The Return of Tristan
by anarane2
Summary: Tristan finally comes home...
1. Chapter 1

Northern Shore of the Black Sea

455 AD

The summer had proven hot and wet, more so than any other year and the villagers were concerned that their wheat harvest might not be as abundant as they had hoped. The land was cold, inhospitable and unyielding for most part of the year except for the short summer which was always welcomed by the inhabitants as a period of respite from their difficult lives.

Despite the activities of the greater Roman Empire to which the land and people belonged, life at the mouth of the Tanais river was slow and monotonous. Although the Empire was slowly dying, pressed in by barbarians all around, the daily life of the villagers was somewhat quiet, the seasons determining their labour from dawn to dusk. Their lives made bright only by a handful of feasts which were deeply rooted in their pagan beliefs. The word of the Christian saviour had not reached this far and Rome chose to ignore these ancient beliefs as long as there was no opposition to its exploitation of the land and people.

The morning was warm and humid and by the feel of the sun on the women's backs it would be yet another hot day. The women had come to the river early, taking off their colourful hemp bodices and hitching their skirts up to keep the hems dry. They had rolled up the sleeves of their coarse linen shirts and untied the leather string laces at their necks to allow freer movement. As the women were beating the clothes out in the river a figure was seen in the distance running clumsily as she held a bundle of clothing tightly in her arms.

"Tianna! Where have you been girl? The sun is almost at its peak and you come to the river to do your washing now? No wonder you haven't got a husband yet!" The group of women broke out in laughter as a young heavy set woman came bustling up, her cheeks red and her breathing laboured from running. She let her bundle drop to the ground and turned to the group, her face breaking out into a huge grin.

"I expect a man to take me to wife for my other assets and not for how punctual I am with his dirty clothes!" She laughed and using her sleeve mopped the sweat from her brow.

The other women broke out in laughter.

"Well for you to be here at this time means you passed through the market and gleaned the morning gossip for us, dirty clothes and all! Come on! Out with it you're near bursting from your excitement to tell. What is it this time? Did that poor sod of a baker get another beating from his wife or is Vanima pregnant again for the 15th time?" One of the women asked good-humouredly

"Oh poor Vanima! Don't say that Marien its not her fault! She swears by all the Gods that her husband no sooner drops his breeches to his knees and she's with child again!" a young woman retorted which brought a roar of laughter from the group.

"Aye that's her problem! If he were my husband I'd have sewn his breeches up tight years ago!' Marien shot out with a sly grin.

The young woman had just regained her breath and was shaking her head at the other women.

" No, for once the poor sod didn't get beaten and Vanima is still with only 14 children. No my news a far more exciting and will no doubt be eagerly received by the unmarried women, myself included and by far the most eligible…"

"Will you get on with it girl! At the rate you're chattering the next village will find out before we do!" Marien growled glaring and tapping her foot impatiently on the ground.

"There's a new man coming! A Knight! Can't remember his name but he's old Jarid's son. Message was received this morning and old Jarid is beside himself with pride and joy. His boy, who was taken to serve Rome as a Sarmatian knight, is coming home with honour, rank and wealth girls so you best be getting your finest and most beguiling clothes out and aired. Lord I'm so excited I can't think of anything else since the moment I heard the news in the market!" She did a little jig and turning about started preening.

"Jarid's son you said?" Marien murmured.

"I remember that boy, very quiet, kept to himself. Never played with my young ones. Liked to go off on his own…" she continued reminiscing.

He spent an awful lot of time fishing in the river and had the oddest assortment of animals about him. On the day the Romans came to take him I told my husband that of all the boys in that group he'd be the first to fall. Never struck me as the fighting kind, and I always wondered what Jarid would do with him. Not at all like his father. Now there was a man! Jarid was a fine Sarmatian knight from head to toe…"

The older women in the group exchanged smiles, the younger ones had simply stopped their washing and were gawking at Marien.

"Well, that's all I remember of the lad." She said gruffly and turned to her wet clothes, beating them with a little more rigor.

"Tianna don't tell me you're going acourting girl." One of the women shot out after a moment's pause. "Didn't your mama tell you it's the men who do the courting and not the women.?"

"And didn't your mama tell you that it's the women that do the snaring and not the men? The men can _think_ they do the courting all they want…." Tianna replied with a smile and roll of her voluptuous hips.

"And you can start calling me Lady Tianna so's you get used to it!" She picked up the bundle of dirty clothing at her feet and with a toss of her head, nose high in the air and a loud sigh moved off to the river's bank to start her washing. The other women giggled and immediately broke up into smaller groups to discuss this new turn of events in their village life.

"I guess that means you and me are at the bottom of his list of choices. Too bad he's an Iazyges…" sighed a young dark haired woman speaking to her friend.

"Oh Elissa cheer up the old alliances in the village aren't what they used to be. Besides, he's been gone for so long I doubt he even remembers that the Roxolani and the Iazyges were once rivals in the past. We now have a common enemy in the form of the Romans which doesn't give us too much free time to fight amongst ourselves!" her friend replied soothingly.

"I wonder what bride price he'll be looking for…" she trailed off as she saw her friend turn pink and cast her gaze to the ground.

"I'm sorry Roxana. I didn't mean to say anything to hurt you." She apologised squeezing her friend's hand tightly.

"Its alright. It's common knowledge in the village that my bride price is being haggled over by my father and my intended like a fishmonger and a customer haggling over the price of fish in the market. It's been going on for so long that I have become quite thick skinned to it." Roxana replied bitterly feeling her anger rising.

She smiled to herself thinking of how ironic her words of comfort to her friend were. The old alliances were indeed still strongly kept by some. Her father was content to haggle and bargain over his daughter's bride price rather than give her in marriage to an Iazyges. Many had come to his hut with words of respect and a willingness to accept half the bride price. Not that she favoured any one of them but it bothered her that her father was so rigid.

His family had been one of great importance before the Roman had come and he never allowed anyone, least of all his daughter, to forget their "illustrious past." They were descendants of great warlords and one day his tribe would reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Until that day came he owed it to his ancestors to maintain the bloodline.

His pride and sense of self importance would not allow him to mix their blood with Iazyges dirt as he liked to say. He had even given the name of his tribe to his daughter so that she would remember every day of her life she was a Roxolani and would one day bear strong sons for the tribe, sons fathered by a strong Roxolani warrior and not an Iazyges swine, who had agreed to serve the conqueror from father to son. Although the hate and bitterness that had driven these two tribes to war against each other for centuries had been set aside for the sake of overthrowing Roman rule, some men still felt the old hatred, her father being one of them.

And so she had reached the age of 23 and was still unmarried. Not that she yearned for the state of matrimony. Often she would gaze up into the sky at night looking at the moon and stars and ask herself how she would accept Roland as her husband if her father and he did agree on a bride price. The thought of lying next to him made her shudder. He was tall, fair and strong. A good Roxolani man but she felt nothing for him. There were times that she caught his eyes upon her and she would turn away trying to hide the uneasiness she felt from him. And only in the small hours of the night did she wonder if there was a man out there who could look into her eyes and take her breath away. If there was he hadn't found her yet and she was slowly resigning herself to the fact that she was no different from the other women she knew. She would in the end accept the man chosen for her and live her life out beside him, first tolerating and then accepting him, her heart having never been given the chance to flutter.

She shrugged off these thoughts and turning to her friend smiled.

"Elisse you are by far the prettiest girl in the village and if this man has any sense of beauty his eyes will fall upon you and not wish to look upon another…" and gathering her clothes into a straw hamper she gracefully swung it onto her hip, swept her thick dark long hair to the side and turning made her way home.


	2. Chapter 2

II

Roxana had returned home that morning but made no mention of the news she had heard at the river. She had learnt from an early age that any reference made about members of the village who were not approved of by her parents was frowned upon. They would stare at her and after an awkward moment turn away and continue their conversation as if Roxana had never spoken at all. It was a blessing that she had been allowed the friendship of Elissa, but then again they couldn't have said otherwise since Elissa's mother belonged not only to the same tribe but also the same extended family, Marien being directly related to Roxana's father.

In character the two girls were alike in many ways but as different as day was to night in appearance. Both girls were tall and slender with long flowing hair but that was where the similarity ended. Elissa was fair with long fine blonde curly hair which reached down to her waist. Here eyes were green, as green as the lush grass on the land in late spring. Her nose was small and slightly upturned which Roxana often teased her about saying it made her look haughty and thin soft pink lips. Roxana was her antithesis with dark flowing waves past her shoulders.

Her eyes were violet with thick dark lashes framing them. Her lips were fuller and tinged red- a colour that the more wealthier women in the village tried to duplicate using vermillion, but never quite succeeding in matching Roxana's natural shade.

Both girls had been born on the same day and while Elissa's parents were overjoyed, Roxana's tried to hide their disappointment of the child's sex behind forced smiles. The two girls had had a carefree and happy childhood and had grown into beautiful young women. But lately Roxana sensed a sadness in Elissa that seemed to eat away at her. She would often ask her friend what troubled her but Elissa would only shake her head, smile and say it was nothing. It hurt Roxana to see her this way but what hurt her even more was that her closest friend wouldn't tell her what had caused this change.

The days passed and the village had started the hay harvest. It was a communal activity and every morning the villagers would meet in the market and breaking up into different teams, they would make their way to the fields. Roxana had always enjoyed this time of year and she particularly looked forward to the feast dedicated to the god Kupalo which was held at the end. The whole village offered freshly cut sheaths of hay, wine and oil to the god of harvest and the summer solstice as thanksgiving for their crop, and then they shared a communal meal prepared by all the women of the village in the square. The dancing and revelry often continued until the following morning.

Work began early, the morning being warm but even in the mid day sun when it got hot, the friendly chattering among themselves turned their thoughts from their sweaty discomfort and somehow made the work quicker and easier. She worked alongside Elissa and Elissa's mother, Marien. Elissa had lost her father when she was very young, and her mother, who had no wish to find another husband, had raised her alone. Roxana's father had often said that Marien had no reason to re-marry as her late husband had left her more than well off. She had land and livestock and the help of her extended family in not only raising Elissa but in maintaining the property and wealth left her. For Roxana, Elissa was a sister and Marian she saw as more of a mother than the woman who had given birth to her. It wasn't that she didn't love her own mother, but even as a child, any show of affection made by Roxana was subtly discouraged, as if loving meant being weak. Neither of her parents was weak, and so she had turned to Marian for words of praise, encouragement and affectionate cuddles, Marien giving her love to both girls with equal generosity.

They were milling around, waiting for their team to move off when they saw Roxana's mother join them.

"Roxana, go back home and you prepare the meal and tend to the chores today. I feel like I could use some fresh air and activity, it gets so boring waiting for everyone to return. I feel like doing some harvesting today." She announced taking Roxana's scythe and nodding a greeting to Marien.

Roxana and Elissa exchanged looks and as Roxana made to move off, Elise touched her mother's arm.

"Can I stay too mother? I can help Roxana do her chores and she can help me with ours and we can prepare a meal for both our families."

Marien looked at the girls and flashing them a smile nodded her approval. Both women looking on as the girls quickly turned and made their way across the market square.

"Roxana you have to pick some vegetables and perhaps some fruit. There's not enough in the hamper at home…" her mother called out.

Roxana turned, nodded and with a smile and a quick wave ran after her friend who had shot out ahead.

"What has gotten into my mother today?" Roxana wondered aloud.

"Just keep walking before she changes her mind!" Elissa retorted and quickened her pace along the dirt road.

"Right! It's too early to go vegetable and fruit picking, everything will be covered in dew.

Let's go to your hut first and then mine and _then _we'll go to the garden and maybe laze around in the sun for bit. Oh did you hear that Tya is going to be bound to Yari soon?" Elissa said.

"No! That was quick. Indecently quick!" Roxana replied.

"Oh and why?" Elissa cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, shouldn't her father have bartered more for her to raise her value? I know Yari has a fine status in the village, but they could have made it a little more….."

"Romantic?" Elissa laughed.

No! Dramatic! Then you'd be here telling me about Yari's difficulty in persuading his family to pay the bride price and how Tya was distraught at not knowing if the binding would happen and how she was pinning for Yari…Now it's just "Did you hear that Tya is going to be bound to Yari soon"..…not very exciting!" Roxana grumbled.

Elissa stopped dead in her tracks, colour creeping up her face. Looking at Roxanna she asked softly,

"Is that how it is with you and Roland?"

Roxana burst out laughing.

"Not at all! With me and Roland it's a matter of my father's pride and stubbornness and as for Roland's family, I can't even begin to imagine what drives them! No, I don't pine for Roland and I doubt Roland is trying very hard to persuade his family."

You never go out as a young couple courting. The families are negotiating and it would not be unseemly. Perhaps it might even help matters…" Elissa asked hesitantly, biting her lower lip.

"Because the thought has never crossed my mind and I can assure you neither has the desire!

God's what I'd give to be free of this!" Roxana exclaimed.

"Roland is a fine man Roxana, he has……."

"I know, I know the gods' protect me! He has family wealth and status. I hear it day in and day out! I care not! A marriage bed is not made up of family, wealth and status! It's made up of tenderness, love, desire and yes lust!" Roxana spoke vehemently, her cheeks red and her eyes blazing.

"So, is it to be a loveless binding then?" Elissa asked softly looking into Roxana's eyes.

Roxana nodded.

"Aye. I will accept it if I have to but by the goddess Lada if I meet a man who touches my heart I will do what my heart tells me and follow him to the ends of the earth!"

"And your family?"

Roxana looked into her friends eyes and said fiercely.

"They don't fit into my marriage bed either!"

Elissa gave her a small smile, her eyes shining and gathering Roxana into her arms squeezed tightly.

"I hope the goddess is listening…." She whispered.

"Isn't it absolutely blissful today? And so quiet! Nobody around to bother you with questions, gossip and chattering…" Elise sighed as she pressed her back against the tree trunk. She was sitting at the foot of a tree while Roxana had climbed up onto a branch, her back leaning against the trunk, one foot pulled up while the other dangled in the air.

"What was that you said about chattering?" Roxana laughed, dropping a peach down onto her friend who let out a yelp.

"Oy! That hurt!" Elissa grumbled, picking the fruit up and biting into it.

Roxana laughed and splitting her own peach in two halves took a bite. She softly whipped the juice that trickled down her chin with the back of her hand, glancing down to see if she had stained her bodice. The rustling of the leaves caught her attention. Looking up she found herself staring into the black and shiny eyes of a hawk. She froze and held her breath as woman and bird surveyed one another.

"Hey drop me another one! That was really sweet!" Elissa called out.

Not getting a response she looked up to see what Roxana was doing. She too stood still when she say the hawk. Roxana was surprised that the bird hadn't flown away and slowly extended her hand out, and ever so slightly caressed its feathers. She had never felt anything so soft and silky in all her life.

"What in the names of all the Gods are you doing….?" Elissa whispered from below.

Roxana didn't dare answer. The bird was looking at her, cocking its head to one side as if deciding what to do next. Quite suddenly it hopped closer to Roxana and with a quick movement rubbed its head against her fingers.

Roxana let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding and smiled. Her whole body tingled and felt light and her eyes shone with happiness. A good omen she thought.

A sharp whistle broke the silence and the bird quickly took flight, swooping down towards the dirt road a few feet from where the girls were. Roxana's eyes followed the bird's course and widened in disbelief when she saw it flutter down onto the leather covered knuckles of a darkly clad man on a white war horse. Her eyes quickly returned to the hawk which perched on the man's outstretched hand. She had seen hawks in flight and fighting but never one sitting so contentedly near a person.

"Is he yours….?" She blurted lifting her gaze to the man's face.

Violet eyes locked onto deep brown ones and with a shiver she felt as if time had stopped. She was vaguely aware that she was staring at a complete stranger and should have looked modestly away, but she couldn't tear her gaze from his.

"It is a she and no, she does not belong to me. She chose to be my friend and companion many years ago…" he replied, inclining his head in a subtle acknowledgment of Roxana, his eyes never leaving hers. Suddenly she felt her leg being tugged on and tearing her eyes away looked down to Ellisa who was pursing her lips and shaking her head.

Her face flamed as she realised that she had not only stared at the man but had spoken to him first. If her mother had been there she would have been sharply reprimanded and reminded of her manners. And yet, she couldn't help herself and she turned back to look at the man once more. He smiled and once again inkling his head towards the girls, spurred his mount into a gait, the hawk beating its wings in its attempt to hold on.

Roxana leaned forward, bracing her hand against the bark of the tree, her eyes following the man, the hawk and the horse until she had lost sight of them.


	3. Chapter 3

III

The rest of the day passed quickly and quietly. When the villagers returned to their homes that night, no word was mentioned of a stranger, and both girls refrained from mentioning him to anyone. Banking the fire down for the night, Roxana went outside and lay on the grass, gazing up at the night sky. She slowly closed her eyes and conjured up the stranger's face in her mind.

A strong face with high cheekbones that bore dark parallel streaks like the claw marks of an animal. His hair was unruly and had braids in it with uneven strands falling across his face. The lips were thin and slightly covered by a beard that showed light steaks of grey at the chin and warm, dark brown eyes. For a brief moment she had lost herself in their gaze and a shiver ran down her spine remembering their warmth. Her hair stood on end as she recalled the thought that had often crossed her mind lately when thinking of Roland She had often wondered if she would find a man who would look into her eyes and take her breath away….She shivered.

If only he had been Roland, she would have been content with her lot. She smiled bitterly. He was not Roland and such thoughts would only set her on a course that even she did not know where it would lead her. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the moon and sent a silent prayer to the goddess that the stranger had only passed through the village and that he wasn't Jarid's son.

The next day in the fields the only thing on everyone's lips was the return of Tristan, Jarid's son.

The girls with Elissa and Roxana talked of nothing but him. Speculating on whether he was handsome or not, on what his plans might be and when they would see him. The chattering continued well into the day, the young girls casting discreet glances around wondering if Tristan and Jarid would appear or not. The only two who were remarkably silent about the matter was Elissa and Roxana, who did not dare say they had seen him the day before. Not only because of the disapproval they knew would be in order for speaking to a stranger and not saying anything about it from the respective families, but for the endless questions that they would be plagued with from the other women.

"Oh I can't wait to see him!" gushed Tianna.

"This is the most exciting thing to happen since Maric was caught with the baker's wife helping to ease that worrisome and incessant itch she seems to suffer from!" she continued in a merry mood causing the younger women to blush and the older ones' to suppress their laughter behind their hands.

"Tianna best watch what you say! The baker's wife is coming over here and if she hears you she'll be having you on the ground with her knee on your stomach!" one of the women whispered and inclined her head to the side.

"Will you close that hole in your face for a minute girl! My head's near bursting from your chatter and I'm dizzy watching you bounce about. Will you stand still for a minute!" Marien cried out slapping Tianna lightly on the back of her head.

"Get your back into the work and stop thinking about Jarid's son. Much to his misfortune you'll meet him soon enough!"

"Oh leave her be." The baker's wife had joined the women.

"Why even I'm curious to see the boy. Wonder how he's built" she mused more to herself than to anyone in particular.

"Aye, you would, wouldn't you? You've had every male of this village between your legs at least twice, its not a wonder you're looking for the feel of a new man there, you slut!"

"You hag! You're just being spiteful because it's been so long you've felt a man there you've forgotten what it's like!" the baker's wife spat out, arms akimbo and eyes blazing into Marien's face.

Elissa and Roxana left their places to stand next to Marien, for it would not be the first time these two women had come to blows.

"Look! Look!" Tianna whispered excitedly, "It's him"

The younger women turned to look into the direction Tianna's head was bobbing.

"I'll deal with you later!" the baker's wife hissed.

"Bah!" Marien replied spitting onto the ground.

The women stood in a small group, their labour forgotten for a moment as Jarid and Tristan approached them. All of them eyed the stranger except for Elissa and Roxana who were nervously fidgeting next to Marien. Tristan's eyes swept over the group and came to rest briefly on Roxana. Her eyes locked onto his through lowered lashes and a ghost of a smile graced her lips.

Tristan's eyes warmed for a brief moment before turning to face the well built middle aged woman who was approaching him.

"Jarid, so your boy's home at last!" she said.

Jarid nodded.

"Marien, my son Tristan."

Marien held both hands out before her, palms up in a gesture of welcome.

"Welcome home Tristan, son of Jarid and Isilt." Marien said formally.

Tristan placed his palms on hers.

"I thank you Marien"

Marien nodded and smiled. Glancing at Jarid she smiled once more and bending down, picked her scythe up and went back to her work. Tristan and Jarid moved off, but not before Tristan once again looked at Roxana and discreetly inclined his head. She felt Elissa's hand slip into hers and turned to look at her friend, who had fixed her stare on her. No one was paying any attention however, as the women were looking after the retreating backs of the two men, too engrossed in whispering excitedly amongst themselves. A sharp reprimand from Marien broke them up and they hurriedly returned to their work, wanting to finish for the day and go home where they could discuss the new member of their village at their leisure.

That night the well in the market square was overrun by women who had come to fill their jugs. Oddly enough, all the houses had mysteriously run out of fresh drinking water. What they were really hoping for was to see Tristan again, but much to their disappointment he was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't wait for the hay harvest to end!" one girl said.

"Aye, the feast in honour of Kopula has been set for two days hence, on the night of the solstice, so we'll have to be patient until then!" another sighed.

They milled around slowly filling their jars hoping that Tristan would appear but he didn't and after a while they made their way home, the sun dipping low in the west, twilight approaching.

Roxana had finished helping her mother put the dishes away. Dinner had been livelier than most nights, her parents being more vocal at this turn of events.

"So, he's back." Her mother said.

"Aye, didn't think he would be. I was quite surprised. I heard tell that he served his duty well and brought honour to our people. But then the best Roman has never been a match for the worse Sarmatian, even if that Sarmatian is an Iazyges." Her father replied.

"I am glad that Jarid will not be alone any longer and his son will take some of the work off his shoulders. I expect his first thought will be to take a wife." Galiana said, adding more meat onto her husband's wooden plate.

"The women were openly eyeing him in the fields! Its was a disgrace! How times have changed!"

Ivano said outraged.

"In our times the unbound women did not dare to raise their eyes on a man and yet today, Tianna was openly staring at Tristan. If I were her father I'd have a word with her!"

Galiana smiled and placed a hand over his.

"You seem to have forgotten the days of your youth husband." She said, her eyes lighting up.

Her husband looked at her sternly, subtly inclining his head towards Roxana.

"As long as he remembers his place in the village, he can do whatever he chooses. No doubt he will take a wife and breed more sons to serve Rome as he and his father did. It concerns us not." He replied, chewing his meat.

Roxana sat quietly at the table eating and making as little noise as possible. She longed to ask questions about Tristan, but dared not. Her parents had never spoken so openly in front of her. Slowly they finished their evening meal and she stood up to help her mother gather the table.

"Mother, I'll just go to the cherry tree and sit awhile before going to bed." Roxana said.

"Roxana, you're a grown woman with an intended asking for you and yet at times you still behave like a child." Her mother chided her softly

"Don't be too late. Your father and I are going to bed."

She walked outside the hut and breathed in the warm summer air, heavy with the scent of summer flowers. Slowly she made her way to her favourite haunt, an old cherry tree she liked to climb up in and from there stare at the stars. She had been coming there since she was a child, letting the peace of the night wash over her. The moon shone brightly and lit up the surrounding landscape brilliantly. As she braced her leg between the forked branches of the trunk and grasping an upper branch to hoist herself up, she hear a soft chuckle. Startled she let go and fell to the ground.

A dark figure jumped to the ground and stood a ways off, keeping his distance not to frighten her, the moon lighting his features up.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted, surprised to see another person indulging in a past time she thought was her own oddity.

"I am reacquainting myself with the haunts of my childhood. I used to come here at night, climb up and look at the stars and moon as they followed their course in the night sky."

He came to stand next to her and extended his hand to her. She hesitated but a moment before taking it and she felt herself being pulled to her feet.

"I fear that it is a pastime I still indulge in , even at my age." He said looking into her eyes, his warm hand holding hers.

Roxana looked away, not bearing to gaze too long into his eyes. She felt his calloused thumb softly rubbing her knuckles and was at a loss to understand what she was feeling. Her senses were thrown into a whirlwind, and she felt her breath catch in her throat.

Tristan continued to look down at her bent head, a smile touching his lips. When had he ever stood with a woman like this. Indeed, when had he ever _wanted_ to be with a woman like this?In the past he had used them and then walked off without giving any a second thought until his need had caused him to seek one out. There had been no emotional involvement on his part although several women had expressed some feelings for him at one point or another, but he had never encouraged them and always stated his disinterest and indifference to them. In the course of time he had acquired the reputation of being aloof and cold, indeed some claimed he was cruel. It had not mattered to him for any relationship back then had seemed futile to him. And now, no sooner had he crossed the borders of his native village than he had seen a woman, more girl than woman, and he wondered what he was embarking on. The best thing would be to bid her a good night and leave. He realised that he still held her hand and that she had not made any gesture to pull it away. He looked down at their joined hands. Hers was small and soft, but held his just as firmly as he held hers.

"You know my name from this afternoon, but I do not know yours." He heard himself say softly.

Roxana looked up into his face and whispered.

"Roxana, daughter of Ivano and Galiana"

"I am pleased to finally know who you are." Tristan smiled.

Colour flooded Roxana's face but she continued to look up at him.

"Is the hawk really your friend?" Roxana asked.

"Aye, she has been with me a long time. My friend and companion during my service to Rome."

"And where is she now? Do you keep her in a cage, hooded?"

"No." Tristan laughed. "She is free to come and go as she pleases."

"Do you not fear that she will fly off and never return?"

"No, she always comes back, there is no need to restrict her and as I said she is not mine. I don't consider her as something that belongs to me."

Roxana looked at him thoughtfully.

"Is that why she comes to you when you call to her?"

"Perhaps. Maybe she just likes my company."

Roxana smiled and looked down. She still held his hand. Neither had made any movement to pull away. She lifted his hand and turning the palm upwards traced the length of his index finger. Dry, rough and calloused.

Tristan froze at her gentle touch. He wanted to continue talking to her but didn't know quite what to say. Whenever he had felt awkward in the past, his usual behaviour was to keep silent and withdraw, but for the first time in his life he wanted to stay and he silently cursed his lack of words. If his old comrade Lancelot had been there he would have known what to say. He would no doubt have had the girl swooning with his words alone. Tristan looked at Roxana and smiling wryly was glad Lancelot was not there. Women tended to have eyes only for him which at time had earned him his comrades' ire.

"Your hands are rough from fighting. Were you in many battles then?" Roxana heard herself saying and she suppressed a smile. If any other man had even thought about regaling her with battle stories she would have politely excused herself and left. She always despised the way men boasted of their battle prowess to impress the women. Yet here she was asking him to do just that. She wanted to continue talking to him, to have him near her just a little longer.

Tristan's eyes widen, surprised at the question.

"Yes, many. It had become a daily part of my life. That was what Rome had trained us for, that was what she required from us. If we were lucky we would return from a battle with only wounds. Forty of us began as young boys, more children than men, and only six survived to the end of our term of duty…" Tristan's voice trailed off, looking into the distance.

Roxana listened in silence, noting the slight change in his tone of voice. This was not a man who strutted his military ability as a trophy and who in all likelihood had never fought in a skirmish let alone a battle. This one had fought, had sustained wounds and had been hurt by the loss of his comrades.

"Were you close then with the other knights?"

"We formed a strong bond between us. We were as close as brothers. We only had one another with whom to remember our past, our home and to stand by the grave in the end."

Roxana's eyes filled with compassion and impulsively she squeezed his hand, lifting her other hand to gently caress his cheek. Tristan, who had been lost in his thoughts, froze at her touch.

"I am not weak." He said ruefully, feeling uncomfortable at showing this woman a side that very few people knew existed. Once again he asked himself what he was doing.

"No, you are not, otherwise you would not have come back to us." Roxana sensed his unease and she felt a warmth, innocent and newborn, fill her. No, this man was unlike any she had known before and she wanted to learn more of him.

"So what are you plans? Will you stay on here with Jarid or go elsewhere?" She leaned against the tree, her knees feeling suddenly weak, for Tristan had slowly started to caress the top of her hand with his thumb ever so softly. She was lost and did not know what to do. She looked down at her feet.

"I have not given it much thought. I wanted to return here to see if my father still lived. Now that I am here, I have a feeling I'd like to stay."

Lifting her chin with his hand so she could look into his eyes he said softly,

"We shall see."

She smiled shyly at him, her eyes shining.

"It is getting late and as you have only recently come home, I shall relinquish my right this night and leave you and the tree to get to know each other once again."

Tristan's eyes lit up at her teasing and his chuckle broke the night's silence like a ripple.

"I thank you, but hope that we will be able to share it from now on."

Roxana smiled and nodded her head.

"Good night." She whispered.

"Good night lady, and thank you." Tristan replied and bending over placed a soft kiss on her hand before letting it go.

With one last smile Roxana turned and walked off. Tristan looked on at her retreating figure until she disappeared into her hut, a small smile playing on his lips.


	4. Chapter 4

Tristan continued to gaze in the direction Roxana had gone in long after she had entered her hut.

His thoughts strayed to the past, to the years he had spent in Britain. He remembered listening to his brothers talking about their plans for home. Bors and Dagonet had decided to stay on while the rest had set off for the long journey home. On the way they had spent many an evening discussing what they planned on doing. All of the men were looking forward to a peaceful life, finding a wife and raising a family. Tristan had been the only one who had shrugged that idea off. Of all the men, he was the most reserved and distant. He had spent so many years alone that the idea of finding a mate was a remote one for him. He didn't know how to go about doing that. Courtship and love were, he thought, not part of his nature. The women he had spent his company with had been of two types. The first were the women who sold themselves to whoever had the coin to pay. The other were women who were married to high ranking officers who had gained the right to marry. These women out of boredom would often resort to adventures with the knights, their foreign appearance giving them an air of mystery, and Tristan's appearance was the most mysterious of all. Most often the knights were more than happy to oblige since these women were better kept than the whores and their sense of pleasure often more prolonged and adventurous especially if their husbands were away on duty, unlike the whores who wanted to accommodate as many customers in one night as possible. In either case there was no future for him. Tristan used them but had no patience for them. He carried enough hurt and misery without being able to bear another's.

As a child he had lost his mother, the only person who had cared for him. In his mind's eye he could see her emerging from the mists of time and such had been her love for him that he could still feel its warmth caress and sooth him, even now as a grown man. He remembered moments they had shared together, but he also remembered moments when she was unaware her young son could see her. Moments when she would look at his father with shining eyes, the light going out when he turned away from her. She had never said anything to her husband, but there were nights when she thought Tristan slept and then she would sit by the hearth and although she never made a sound, tears would course down her cheeks. He could not understand why she was like that. Later the man understood what the child could not. That a love not returned was sometimes more painful than not having ever experience it at all. He had often wondered why this had been the case with Isilt. Indeed one of the reasons he had returned was not only to learn if his father still lived but to perhaps find answers to some of his questions and to see if he could forge a relationship with his father.

His need to feel close to a person had grown of late. While he was in service he had forged bonds with his other brothers in arms but with their survival and freedom came the loss of these bonds. The men had each gone their own way and a new need to belong and to feel close to someone had been on his mind of late. This had been his driving motive for returning home. And now, no sooner had he arrived than he had laid eyes on Roxana and he felt at loss. She was no whore to be bought nor a woman who was seeking excitement in her boring existence. To what extent she was an innocent he did not know, but he knew that she was not so experienced as to be brazen as the one named Tillian was, whom he had met earlier that day, nor as wanton as the baker's wife whom he also had the uneasy pleasure of meeting that day.

He cringed recalling his appalling experience and personal awkwardness during his walk through the fields. He had wanted to decline his father's invitation but didn't have the heart to dampen the older man's happiness. Besides, it was the first time that Tristan had seen pride for him lighting his father's face and he couldn't say no. The walk was interesting with many introductions, some people he remembered, others were new to him. The men had been courteous, the older women polite and respectful but the God's protect him from the younger women. It had been a long time since he had felt so unnerved. He had felt like a stud bull set out to pasture. They all had tried to catch his eye and their curious stares had set him on edge. Just as he had had enough he had caught sight of Roxana and her friend. These two had been more than discreet, subdued from their meeting with him the day before he thought. Their bearing and attitude left him in no doubt that they had not said anything.

Roxana had caught his attention the moment his hawk had gone and settled next to her. He had quietly reigned in his horse, fully prepared to see the young dark haired woman break out into hysterics and a squawking hawk beating a hasty retreat. Instead he saw a young woman glowing with excitement and remaining calm while the hawk not only allowed her to stroke it, but the nasty little wretch hopped up wanting more of her attention. In the long years he and the bird had been together, she had only suffered Tristan to touch her and only on rare occasions had she sought out his caress. In curiosity he had called to the hawk, so that he could get the girl's attention. When she turned her violet eyes on him he got more than he had bargained for. In that one moment he felt so drawn into her gaze that all doubts he had about coming back were gone in a moment and he felt that he was indeed home. Long after he had ridden off leaving the two girls behind him he still thought of the woman and the desire to perhaps make her his own started to form in his mind. He couldn't openly admit it to himself but hope had sprung in his heart that perhaps he could at last have a peaceful life with someone whom he could care for and who would care for him as well. Perhaps life would finally grant him something he could hold dear to and call his own. Tonight fate had given his more confidence when she had led Roxana straight to him.

Roxana took her clothes off and donning a light shift crawled into bed. She had to help her mother the next day with the preparation of their contribution to the food for the feast in two days time but she could not even think about sleeping now. She wanted to lie in her bed and remember her meeting with Tristan again. To remember how her hand had felt clasped in his and the way his eyes had lingered upon her. She could have stayed there with him all night. She had seen a vulnerable side of him that had surprised her. She had grown up with men who always appeared strong and brave, yet tonight she had met a man, a Sarmatian knight no less, who had shown her a side of him that had touched her. She recalled how he had said he was not weak as if in apology for his vulnerability. No, he wasn't. He was a man any woman would be proud to call her own. With that last thought came the sobering realisation that of all the men in the village, Tristan was perhaps the only one who was forbidden to her. He was the only one she wanted.

Well you always prayed to the goddess Lada to meet a man you could feel something for.

She said to herself.

She seems to have heard your prayer after all. The question is do you have the courage to accept what she is offering, come what may?


	5. Chapter 5

V

"Roxana! Hurry up! Your father has already left to carry the food for the feast we've prepared and we will be late!" Galiana called out.

Roxana came into the main living area of their hut. Her mother looked at her approvingly. She was wearing a dress of fine spun linen dyed green with floral embroidery trim at the neckline and wrists. The gown was tight fitting, following the curves of her waist and hips and then gently flared to the ground. The neckline, although modest, revealed her long neck. Her hair shone and fell about her shoulders and down her back.

"You're a vision Roxana. Roland will be proud to stand by you tonight."

Roxana did not reply at all.

Her mother looked at her for a moment. This was the first time she had mentioned Roland to her daughter and didn't hear an outburst from her. She was pleased and assumed that the girl was coming to terms with the future her father had planned for her. It was a splendid match for Roxana, Roland being the only son and heir to his father but his behaviour lately had troubled Galiana. She had broached the subject to her husband who dismissed her misgivings. She recalled their conversation one night not that long ago. They had eaten dinner and Roxana had wandered out to the cherry tree to daydream again no doubt.

"Ivano, why does the boy not accept the bride price?" she had asked, her concern showing.

"He claims that the last two winters were hard ones for his family and the harvest were not that good." Her husband had replied evenly.

"This cannot go on for much longer. We will lose face if this continues. I fear that Roxana's bride value will diminish if he does not accept the price soon."

"Do you think me a fool wife?" her husband asked sharply.

"No husband, but I was speaking to Marien last night who told me Ryano's mother had hinted that her son would gladly pay the price for Roxana…" she trailed off seeing her husband's frown.

"He's a fine lad but we are not interested in uniting with the Alani, although they are better than the Iazyges."

"Husband, what is all this about?" his wife asked suddenly.

Ivano came closer and whispered.

"Five nights after the feast, we shall be leaving for a fortnight to visit my kin 50 leagues from here. In truth we go to one of many secret meetings to see how the plans for revolt are progressing. I pray to the gods that I can still be able to fight when our people overthrow the Romans. The time is ripe. Barbarians are slowing breaking the Empire's defences and the patrol of our lands is more lax. The time to reclaim what was ours is almost at hand wife!" Ivano's eyes gleamed.

"And if you fail? The last revolt took place in the time of our grandfathers. Need I remind you how many men of this village died in that attempt?" she replied worriedly.

The Romans held our land in an iron grip then, but not any longer. " he replied

"Times have changed wife and this time it is in our favour."

Galiana looked at her husband sharply. She had never doubled him for a moment but that didn't stop her from silently worrying about what he had involved himself in.

"Will Roxana accompany us?" she queried.

"No. She stays here. I do not want her to know what is afoot."

"Will she stay with Marien?" Galiana asked.

"If she wants or she can stay here and Marien can keep an eye on her. She can decide."

"Fine, But returning to my first question, What are we to do about Roland?"

Ivano paused for a moment as if lost in thought and then turned to his wife.

"I will give him a little more time and if I see he is still reluctant, then I shall have no choice but to persuade him." He replied softly.

Galiana nodded but then frowned slightly as another thought crossed her mind.

"What if he has set his eyes on another?"

"What concern is that to us. Marriages forge alliances among families that are expedient for both parties. I trust you have not forgotten that wife. If our plans go accordingly, then Roland's family will be a very useful asset for us."

Galiana nodded and sighed. She had no choice but to be patient and wait for her husband to decide when to act and how best to act.

"Mother, what are you thinking of?" Roxana's voice interrupted Galiana's thoughts.

"What?" she looked at her daughter.

Where are your thoughts? I have asked you the same question three times!"

"I'm sorry, I was thinking about…" she paused for a moment before she continued.

"…whether the food I prepared will be enough."

Roxana looked at her mother. It was obvious that she was lying but she was not about to tell her that.

"Shall we go then?" Galiana gestured towards the door.

"Yes, but Elissa told me earlier that we should stop at their hut first and that way we can all go together. I think Marien has made too much food again and needs help carrying it."

"Hmmmm…" her mother nodded slightly, thinking it would be a good opportunity to tell Marien that they would be leaving soon and that they would be leaving Roxana behind.

The two women hurried along and as they approached Marien's hut, they saw Elissa waving them over.

"Galiana, Roxana come and give us a hand!" Marien cried out.

The two women hurried and each took a wooden tray heavily ladened with pots of food. They all set off for the square. Roxana's arms were starting to ache under the weight of the tray.

"How much food has your mother made anyway!" Roxana grumbled to Elissa

"You know mother! Better to eat the same food for three days than to be shamed by not having enough!" Elissa replied laughingly.

"And don't either of you forget it!" Marien called out from behind.

"The mark of a good housewife is shown by her table!" Marien finished, Galiana nodding in agreement.

As they were approaching the square Jarid and Tristan caught up with the women.

"Let me help with that." Jarid offered.

"Bah! Galiana and I are alright, but you'd better take the trays from the girls if you can otherwise I see them being dropped in the middle of the road!" Marien replied.

Jarid took the tray from a grateful looking Elissa while Tristan walked up and with a smile, stretched his hands out to take Roxana's tray. His fingers brushed over hers and Roxana felt a jolt run up her arms. Looking into his eyes, she returned his smile and stepped aside to let the two men walk ahead to the trestle tables that had been set up on one side of the square. Women were bustling about, arranging pots and setting out jugs of wine. Most of the villagers were already there, the men in a large group talking, while the women were off on one side chatting amongst themselves and looking around. The women had caught sight of Tristan and their eyes followed him as he went to the trestle tables. Roxana stepped up to him to take the tray.

"Thank you" She said softly, her eyes downcast. She could sense her mother's watchful eyes on her.

Tristan returned her smile before joining Jarid to move towards the men.

"Ah! If that Tristan isn't…."

"Peace! Peace Tillian! I beg you!" Roxana laughed.

"Can you not admire Tristan in silence for once. It would be greatly appreciated!"

"What? You find him unattractive?" Tillian asked flashing her a sly smile.

""She has an intended. She does not care if Tristan is attractive or not." Roxana's mother replied coldly.

Tillian dropped her head, her face red.

"I'm sorry Galiana, I meant no harm….I was only teasing her…"

Galiana nodded and moved off to join the older women.

"Why is your mother so dour all the time?" Tillian mumbled to Roxana.

Roxana shrugged her shoulders and squeezing her arm gave her an apologetic smile. Roxana well knew that at best Galiana was unnerving and at worse down right terrifying.

"Look! The men are lighting the torches for the procession to the sacred grove. The ritual will begin soon and you can stare at Tristan in the dark to your heart's content!" Elissa chimed in, she too trying to ease Tillian's embarrassment from Galiana's curt reprimand. Torches were distributed among the villagers and they formed a procession, the women behind the village elders followed by the men. Tristan lifted his torch and took his place, watching Roxana who stood among the women. Green complimented her hair and eyes he noted as his eyes swept the length of her. At a signal from the elders they started walking and they soon reached the grove.

The moon was full and the stars twinkled like jewels in the night sky.

The villagers formed a circle around the altar and watched as the elders took hay and after thanking the god for his bounty sprinkled it with oil, setting fire to it. As the fire flared and smoke billowed to the sky another elder came forward and spilt wine in the four cardinal directions invoking the winds to rise so that the ashes of the hay could be carried about the land ensuring the following year's crop. The ceremony was quickly concluded and the villagers started to make their way back to the market to begin the feast. As Roxana and Elissa were walking back, Elissa turned and whispered.

"Roxana go ahead. I…I need to talk to someone…" her face had flushed a deep crimson and she could not meet Roxana's eyes.

Roxana smiled and kissing her friend on the cheek replied.

"Go on! I'll keep out of sight so mother and Marien think we're together. You shouldn't keep him waiting!" she teased.

Elissa paled and turning away she quickly broke from the group stepping into the shadows.

She retraced her footsteps and soon stood on the outskirts of the grove. There the figure of a man emerged from the shadows and quickly approached her.

Taking her into her arms he kissed her passionately, hungrily. Elissa stood still, willing her arms to hang limply at her side, fighting the urge the reach up and hold him tightly. Slowly tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"My love, you came! I was so afraid you wouldn't!" he whispered closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her hair.

"Roland, I should not have! Please, please let me go…do not do this…" Elissa sobbed softly, her whole body trembling.

"How can I let go of the only thing that has brought light into my heart? Elissa I love you…I need you near me…" Roland said fiercely whipping her tears with his thumbs and kissing her.

Elissa shook her head and whispered, "It is over."

Roland's grip tightened on her arms

"No! Have you forgotten the vows we took at this same feast at this same place a year past? That we would bind and that I would love and protect you and the children you would bear me!" Roland cried out.

"Are you mad? What could have been a year ago is no longer possible now. A year ago you were free to honour that vow. Now it must be spoken to Roxana. Roland leave me be!" Elissa buried her face in her hands and softly wept.

"No! Never! She means nothing to me!" Roland said taking her roughly by the shoulders. She shrugged his hands away, anger rising quickly from the pit of her stomach and looking into his eyes said coldly.

"A year ago this night we became lovers and I lived only for the moment we could be together. I loved you with all my being and yearned only for your touch and your love but Roland, in the end it was to Roxana's hut that you want to offer your bride price, not to mine!" Her voice had become bitter and she shook. Her eyes were cold and lustreless and he took a step back.

"Where has the woman I have so passionately fallen in love with gone?" he whispered to her.

Elissa looked at him.

"She slowly started dying the night she found out that the man she had given herself to body and soul had sought another to bind with. Go back to the feast and pay court to your intended Roland. I don't know what you want from me. Whatever I had to give to a man I gave to you and you flung it back to me…" Roland looked down at her.

"Elissa, my heart..No…. I need to feel you close to me again. I need to feel your warmth again…"

Roland fell to his knees and wrapping his arms around her waist pulled her to him and rested his cheek on her stomach. Elissa looked down at his bent head and taking a deep breath pushed him away.

"Roland, your intended is waiting for you in the square." She whispered coldly.

"No! I will not leave you! I have waited for this moment a long time, I will not give it up so easily!"

"Let go of me Roland!" Elissa cried out.

"You don't have the right to touch me! " She spoke with all the bitterness she felt in her heart and took a step backwards freeing herself from his clutching hands.

"How many times do I have to tell you….." Roland said.

"Tell me what?" Elissa cut him off.

"That her father and yours manipulated you into going to her?" She started to laugh scornfully.

"If that is the case, I am glad they did and I opened by eyes to what a spineless excuse of a man I had fallen in love with!" She lashed out at him wanting to hurt him as much as he had hurt her.

She turned and looked into his eyes, her own flashing with a fire he had never seen before.

"What I did I did. What I gave, I gave freely. I will never excuse or account myself for that to anyone. Do not ruin the memories I still so foolishly hold dear to my heart. Leave me that Roland, I ask for so little…" she whispered her anger dissolving suddenly and terrible weariness washing over her.

His own anger dissolved and slowly he bent his head tearing his eyes away from hers. He could not bear to see the anguish in their depths. Elissa took this opportunity to step back. Turning she fled from the grove, never once looking back, her name echoing through the leaves that rustled in the wind.


	6. Chapter 6

VI

"Elissa!" Roland called out, but she was gone. He walked back to the centre of the grove and leaning against the altar rested his forehead against the cool stone surface. How had things reached this point? He remembered bitterly the day Ivano had come up to him and his father

as they were working in the fields. The two older men had greeted each other and Ivano then turned his attention to Roland.

"You have grown into a fine young man Roland. Worthy one day to take your father's place as head of the family."

"I thank you Ivano." Roland had replied politely and looked to his father questioningly.

"And you Ivano have a fine daughter whom any man would be proud to claim as his wife." Rexano replied.

"Aye, we both have fine children." Ivano said looking at Roland pointedly.

Roland gave Ivano a tight smile and nodded. He then turned and continued his work.

"Ivano, why don't you and your women join us in a simple meal this evening. My wife and I would be honored."

"That would most please us." Ivano smiled.

"Tonight then." Rexano smiled.

"Tonight then." Ivano repeated and left the field.

No sooner had he gone out of ear shot that Roland rounded on his father.

"What is the meaning of this?" he said through tight lips.

His father eyed him coldly.

"Ivano is head of our tribe in this village. An alliance between his family and ours is most useful at this time." He said softly.

"See that it is done soon." And his turned his back on the younger man.

Roland rounded on his father and setting his shoulders squarely said.

"I am, I think, a grown man who can choose his own wife!"

His father turned slowly about and stared at him without saying a word.

Although the opportunity had not presented itself earlier, I have every intention of binding with Elissa, Marien's daughter." Roland said steadily.

His father continued to eye him for a few moments.

"I know about your pastime with Elissa. Do you think me so much a fool that I don't know what is going on in my own house?"

Roland looked at his father, surprise etched on his face.

"She is a fine woman who comes from a fine family, but given the way things stand, we need to ally ourselves with Ivano's family and not Marien's."

"What do you mean the way things stand?"

His father looked around before fixing his eyes on his son.

"There are plans afoot that can change many things… No don't interrupt!" he said raising his hand to Roland who had opened his mouth to say something.

"Know only this, one day, and I suspect it will be sooner rather than later, we will throw off the Roman yoke and we will take back what was rightfully ours." His father said in a hushed tone.

"And what do family alliances have to do with getting rid of the Romans."

His father's eyes gleamed.

"The Roxani tribe will rule over all the Sarmatians. Now do you understand?" his father smiled.

Roland considered his words carefully before answering.

"I know that we have not yet rid ourselves of the Romans and already you seek to subjugate your own brothers who belong to other tribes. We may have had the Romans for this long, but we have also learnt to live and respect each other in the village not because of tribal alliances but because we have learnt to live harmoniously.

Rexano looked at his son and frowned.

"You have grown soft. That is not your fault but ours. We should have fought the enemy more often rather than accept foreign rule and let time pass so that in the end our sons have become soft!"

"Do you forget the last rebellion father?" Roland asked.

"How many men were killed father? And those who did survive were captured and executed. If we haven't rebelled more often it's because there were so few men left alive to replenish our people."

"You listen and listen well. It's a pity you cannot understand what a great opportunity we are being given. I wish you would embrace your destiny as a man and not a boy. Elissa, as I said before, is a fine woman, but you know the customs of our people. A woman who holds herself in honor is greatly esteemed. A woman who gives herself to a lover is scorned upon. She loses value and she cannot marry according to her status and she is a disgrace to her family. If the village were to find out that Elissa leaves her hut to lay with you in the middle of the night, I warrant her bride price would not even buy a scythe for the harvest."

Roland looked at his father.

"Hurt her in any way and you will have me to answer to, father or no!" Roland said fiercely, taking a step towards his father.

His father stood his ground but could not hide the surprise from his face at his son's response.

"Then go to Ivano, and I promise you that when her time comes to wed we will honour her above her station. No one will ever know of her indiscretion…" His father replied and with one last look turned and walked in the direction of his hut.

Roland slowly fell to his knees. He hated being manipulated by his father and he would have fought to the end, but when Elissa had become the target for his father's schemes, he quickly backed down. Elissa had given herself to him wholly and freely. With her he felt that he had found someone who was his complement in every way. She not only loved him but respected and honoured him, and in the aftermath of their lovemaking, he had often held Elissa close and had whispered to her that he would willingly give his life for her.

He had never imagined that he would give his life for her in this way.


	7. Chapter 7

Elissa ran through the woods, twigs scratching at her face and pulling on her hair, but she paid no heed. She didn't think she could bear any more pain. She ran to the spring and only when she reached it did she collapse to the ground sobbing wildly. Slowly she calmed down and sitting up touched her swollen eyes. Wearily she dragged herself to the edge of the spring and splashed cool water on her face. She would have to return quickly or there would be a lot of explaining to do and she had no inclination for that, she was so tired. She closed here eyes and let her mind wander to the last night she and Roland and lain together. They had finished making love, Roland having taken her breath away. He had kissed and caressed every inch of her and when he took her she sensed desperation in his actions that briefly disturbed her. Only briefly for then she was swept along a tidal rush of passion and she lost herself in his touch, his scent and his kisses. Lying cushioned against him in the afterglow of their lovemaking, he had held her tightly and told her that whatever life had in store for them, he would always carry her in his heart and he would always honor her as his wife. She had raised her head and looked into his eyes, but he only smiled sadly and capturing her lips kissed her softly and deeply. As they were dressing, he avoided her eyes and a sense of unease settled on Elissa.

"Roland, my love, what troubles you?"

He stood up and looking at his hands, he started talking. By the time he had finished, Elissa stood rooted to the ground, all colour from her face gone, Her arms and legs felt numb and a dull ache began in her head.

"So, you are to bind with Roxana, my childhood friend…" she whispered hoarsely, her mouth dry, her lips cold.

She felt as if her world had collapsed around her.

I will put if off as long as possible…We will find a way to be together my love…please don't despair…" he implored, taking her cold hands into his and kissing them. He was just as pale and drawn as she.

"We will be together my love…please….talk to me….do not look away…." He whispered and took her in his arms. He started to caress her back and kiss her softly when she jolted to life and pulled herself from him.

Roland stood there looking at her.

"You are to bind with….and all this time, the times I lay with you… was I nothing but your whore?" Her voice sounded strangled.

She looked into his eyes and he paled. He had never seen so much loss, confusion and hurt. His own eyes clouded over and he took a step forward to embrace her, but she jerked away, her eyes filling with hot tears which cascaded down her white cheeks. Without a word she turned and fled.

Elissa returned to the square and quickly found Roxana who was standing off to the side among the shadows. Looking around her she quickly made her way towards her friend. Roxana's face brightened when she saw Elissa but grew concerned as the girl drew closer. It was obvious even in the dim light of the square that she had been crying. Taking her hand she pulled her close and in a low voice asked.

"What is it Elissa? Did something happen?"

Elissa shook her head and tried to smile, but only managed a grimace.

"Elissa you have been so sad lately! Why do you not tell me what ails you? I love you as a sister you know that, and I also know that it has to do with a man. I am not that dull witted."

"I cannot, Roxana, please do not ask. I cannot….." her voice shook and fresh tears filled her eyes.

Roxana sighed and pulled Elissa into her arms offering whatever comfort she could to the weeping girl.

Tristan stood off to the side amidst a group of men. Although he followed the conversation, his eyes always discreetly strayed to where Roxana stood alone. He had been watching her all night wanting to see who would approach her. Indeed several had asked her to dance but she had refused them all. He had wanted to break from the men and seek her out, but his fellow villagers were eager for news from the outside world and asked endless questions. He noticed that Elissa had come to stand next to her friend and although he was too far away to hear the exchange they had, it was obvious that the girl was upset. He could see Roxana's concern for her friend and her gesture of comfort. No doubt a man was involved. Why was life so complicated? Why did some people have everything while others suffered needlessly? He watched as Elissa leaned her head against her friend's shoulder and cried softly. Roxana looked around concern etched on her face and quickly looking around stood up, pulling Elissa with her and walking off into the shadows and away from prying eyes that might set off tongues.

"…Rome cannot hold us in her grips for much longer. Her power is diminishing and we must seize the chance given us!" a man was saying.

Tristan turned his attention back to the group of men.

"Aye! But the time is not yet ripe to strike! The people are not ready…" another man disagreed.

"And I say it is!" Rexano said.

"What say you Tristan? You must know how the army stands better than us." Ivano turned to Tristan.

Tristan looked up and paused for a moment.

"Rome is losing her power. I agree. Her control over the outer provinces has weakened, and in some areas such as Britain, she is abandoning them all together and pulling her the legions out. But there are two things you have overlooked. Perhaps the time is ripe to strike as you say," he nodded towards Rexano, "the question is are we prepared to strike and sustain the struggle for our freedom?"

Tristan paused looking at the men around him.

"The second is this, and no one must forget it. The Saxons, the Goths, and the Huns are pressing in from the north raiding the outskirts of the northern empire.

It will not be long before they push south. Rome's control may be harsh but her legions have protected us and we in turn have prospered during this time of peace. Rome is like a bear that has fallen to its knees and is having difficulty keeping the wolves at bay, but perhaps the bear is not as dangerous as the wolves themselves."

The men remained thoughtful for a moment, nodding amongst themselves.

"Your son, Jarid, has grown into a wise man." An elder said approvingly.

Jarid inclined his head in recognition and acceptance of the praise, the other men looking upon Tristan with growing respect.

"Young Tristan, we recognize what you say as true, and we hope that if the day to act comes soon that you will stand with us." Rexano said.

Tristan turned and looking steadily at Rexano replied.

"I am tired of fighting. I will not provoke an attack, I wish to live in peace. I have seen the loss of much life and I am tired of it. But I can tell you this. If my land and people are attacked and need my help, I will stand with them to whatever end."

Elissa was making a valiant effort to appear calm and happy, but Roxana knew better. Taking some food they moved to sit on the steps leading up to the village well.

"Elissa, please tell me who it is." Roxana said for the twentieth time, but Elissa just shook her head.

"Alright, I won't badger you any further, but if you need to talk I'm here. I will never judge you, no matter what."

Elissa smiled sadly at her friend feeling more wretched than before. She knew her silence hurt Roxana but what else could she do. She couldn't tell her that the man who had made her feel so miserable was Roland. Roxana had finished her food and had wrapped her arms around her legs, silently looking into the distance. In fact, she was looking at Tristan and with a thrill noted how often their eyes met. It was as if they were seeking out each other in the crowd at every possible opportunity. She had hoped that she would have snatched a few moments alone with him, but by the looks of it, ironically enough, it was the men of the village who seemed no where near finishing with Tristan for the night, much to not only Roxana's but the other women's chagrin.

The musicians started to play a rustic dance and Roxana turned to ask Elissa if she wanted to join in. Suddenly Roland appeared before the two girls and nodding to them invited them to dance.

"Roland, I cannot dance, I'm too tired! Roxana begged off.

"But please dance with Elissa, she can use a little revelry this night."

Elissa didn't raise her eyes at all and only shook her head. Roxana sighed and shrugged.

"Well Roland, it looks like neither of us is up to a dance."

Roland nodded and walked off to join the other men. Roxana turned her attention back to the group. Tristan still stood amongst them, talking. Sighing, she looked at Elissa.

"I'm tired of this. Shall we leave or do you want to stay longer?"

Elissa looked at her, she longed to leave but wasn't up to leaving with Roxana, guilt was knawing away at her.

"No, you go. I want to stay a little longer."

Roxana looked at her and dropping a quick kiss on her cheek turned to find her mother and let her know she was leaving. After bidding the women who were with her mother goodnight, she crossed the square and took the path that led to her home.

Turning once more to look towards the group of men, she noted that she couldn't see Tristan among them. She thought about taking a quick walk around but decided against it. Perhaps he had found more amusing company after all. She had just turned the bend in the road when she saw a figure standing next to the road. Her heart leapt when she recognized Tristan and she couldn't help smiling brightly. As she approached him, he returned her smile.

"Are you tired of the revelry so soon Roxana?" Tristan asked her as she stepped in beside him.

"A little." She smiled.

"Are you going home so early or will you be visiting any old haunts tonight?" she asked mischievously.

Tristan chuckled and shook his head.

"No, I had not planned on it."

"You did not jump over the fire for luck." She noted softly.

She heard Tristan's soft chuckle.

"I fear I have been gone long and have forgotten some of our customs. But now that you mention it, despite my lengthy absence, and if memory serves me right, only lovers jump over the fire together." Tristan looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw Roxana blush brightly.

"I did not see you with anyone as well." He said casually.

Roxana looked up at his profile and slowly he turned to look at her. She gave him a smile and shyly slipped her hand into his.

"Well, I did have my eye on someone, but he was too busy talking all night."

Tristan chuckled and laced his fingers with hers. They had reached the path leading to Roxana's hut, but neither wanted to part company yet.

"How did you spend your first few days in the village?" Roxana asked.

"Trying to make myself as scarce as possible!" Tristan grumbled.

Roxana burst out laughing.

"The women?" she teased.

"Laugh all you want, woman but I tell you this. The adversaries I had met on the battlefield were not nearly so aggressive or persistent for that matter!"

Roxana continued laughing at his bemused expression.

"Especially Tillian!" he mumbled.

"Aye! I'm surprised she hasn't camped out in front of your father's hut yet." She teased.

"No need. She passes by at least three time a day and stops to chat to my father about anything and everything!"

"Well, perhaps she's taken a liking to Jarid, have you never thought of that?" she said and her eyes twinkled.

"Aye, I had never thought of that!" Tristan snorted "I should ask her tomorrow!"

"Oh, well if you do, it might be a good idea to keep your distance, just to be safe!" she giggled.

"Why do I have a feeling you're setting a trap for me?"

"Oh come now! How can a knight such as you fall victim to a simple village woman?"

Tristan gave her an enigmatic look which she couldn't understand. Shyly she smiled up at him. They had reached the cherry tree, which stood on the outskirts of Roxana's hut. Sighing, Roxana turned to Tristan and looking up at the full moon whispered.

"Would you like to share our tree tonight Tristan? It's too beautiful a night to go inside yet!"

Tristan smiled and climbing up first pulled Roxana up next to him. The sat in silence side by side for a few moments.

"How is it that you are not with some young man enjoying this night?" Tristan asked softly.

Roxana turned her face to look at him, her violet eyes lighting up.

"You are not so old Tristan," she said shyly, "and I am enjoying the evening."

Lifting her hand, she gently caressed his cheek.

Tristan's eyes lingered on hers for a moment before he slowly leaned forward and gently kissed her. Roxana's eyes widened for a brief moment at the softness of his lips before closing them. She felt the tip of his tongue caress her bottom lip and she instinctively parted her lips to his. The kiss continued to deepen until both of them were left breathless. Tristan gently ended the kiss and pulled back to look into her eyes.

"I have wanted to do that since the moment I saw you with the hawk." Tristan whispered.

Roxana smiled. She too had wanted it and gently grasping his braids pulled him close for another kiss. Ending the kiss she looked at him and smiled shyly.

"What was you life like in Britain like Tristan?" she asked quietly. She wanted to learn everything about him, how he had lived there, who his closest companions were and about his plans for the future, but above all she wanted to know the man who had touched her heart and who haunted her dreams.

Tristan thought for a moment and shrugged.

"It was just a question of survival. There were no plans, no hopes for the future. All we did was live from one day to the next."

Roxana again felt compassion welling up inside her. She sensed his loneliness and something else, his shyness which he hid so well under his stern exterior. While most of the villagers had commented on his aloofness, she had silently disagreed, and wondered why they did not see his vulnerability as she did.

"And there was no woman to give you moments of peace and happiness?" she asked shyly.

Tristan smiled, wondering how he should answer her, whether to be truthful or not.

As he looked into her violet eyes he decided that with her he wanted to be truthful, he wanted her to know him as none had before, so that if she chose to stay with him, even for a little, she knew who he was and there would be no pretence between them.

"The only women I knew were either whores or married women searching for excitement in their monotonous lives. It was a question of mutual need and lust, nothing more."

He looked at her wondering what her reaction would be.

Roxana was silent for a moment before leaning against him and with a twinkle in her eyes asked.

"And were there many?"

Tristan looked at her and laughed.

"Aye!"

"Well, there are no whores in the village and by the sounds of it you should have no problems with the baker's wife, but Tristan, what will you do with the rest of the women?"

Tristan looked at her.

"It's Tillian that worries me!"

Roxana burst out into such infectious laughter that Tristan found himself laughing along with her.

Roxana lifted her hand and caressed his cheek lightly.

"I'm sure you can take care of yourself my brave Sarmatian knight."

She blushed and stiffened as the endearment slipped from her lips.

Tristan looked at her and warmth filled his brown eyes. He reached up and took her hand. Turning it over he placed a soft kiss on her palm.

"Yes, I can my beautiful lady." He replied softly before pulling her close and claiming her lips.


	8. Chapter 8

The days that followed the feast were spent bundling the hay and storing it for the long winter ahead. Roxana often saw Tristan working in the fields but rarely had the opportunity to speak to him, although she often caught his gaze when the men broke off their work to eat a quick meal or to rest a few minutes. Every day the women vied amongst each other as to who would take food and drink to the men in the hopes of perhaps catching the dark scout's eye. The men had found the whole situation amusing.

"So Tristan, which one will it be?" one of the men asked good naturedly.

"Oh, don't rush him. We haven't been taken care of so well in a long time!" another laughed.

"Aye, they bring enough food and drink to feed an army let alone a few men and I swear the food tastes so good they must stay up all night cooking it!"

Tristan could only shrug his shoulders and smile crookedly knowing that Roxana would tease him mercilessly later on when they met at the tree, something that they had been doing every night since the night of the feast.

On the whole, Roxana enjoyed watching Tristan's embarrassment, until at least the day the baker's wife strolled over to the men, her hips swaying gently and the laces of her shirt loosened to reveal the swell of her breasts. Roxana followed their exchange with narrowed eyes and although she was too far away to hear what they were saying, it was obvious that Tristan was clearly not embarrassed by her attention. She felt someone nudge her side and turned to find Elissa staring at her.

"You look like you'll be spitting bile in a minute!" she whispered to Roxana.

"Next time your mother fights with that bitch I'll be more than willing to hold her down!"

Elissa, trying to look sternly at her friend, couldn't hold the expression and laughed.

"Jealous Roxana?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Roxana smiled back and whispered.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you laugh!." Roxana said both happy to see her friend in a good mood and hoping to avoid an answer.

Elissa looked at her friend and was about to reply when the baker's wife sauntered over with a triumphant smile on her face.

Roxana turned her back on the smiling woman and for the rest of the day refused to even look in the direction of the men.

That night Tristan sat in the tree and patiently waited for Roxana. He couldn't suppress a smile and especially looked forward to this meeting as he had seen how angry she had become in the afternoon and wondered what she would say when she arrived. Sure enough he heard light footsteps approach and within minutes she was next to him.

"I didn't think to find you here tonight." She commented lightly.

"Oh, and why is that?" Tristan asked amusement colouring his voice.

"I would have thought you had other things to occupy yourself with tonight."

"No, I've already set the fishing nets out for the night and Jarid has long gone off to bed…"

"Ah, I see. And you have nothing else better to do…" she asked irritably

"If I bother you I can take myself off somewhere else and only hope that your poor temper improves. Good night…"

Roxana looked at him not knowing whether to hit him or pull him to her.

"Good night…" she trailed off suddenly feeling her heart sink.

As Tristan braced himself for the jump to the ground she hesitantly clutched his arm.

"Will you go to her?" she blurted out.

"Who?" Tristan asked innocently a smile slowly forming on his face, his eyes twinkling.

Roxana blushed a deep crimson and not bearing to look at him whispered.

"The baker's wife…"

Tristan turned and cupping her face in his hands forced her to look into his eyes and said quietly.

"When I ride out at night, it is not the baker's wife I seek, it is you…." And pulling Roxana to him kissed her deeply.

Roxana's arms wound around his neck and when the kiss ended she buried her face in his neck.

After a few moments she whispered.

"My parents left early this morning…"

Tristan pulled away and looked down into her face, raising an eyebrow. She blushed but continued to look into his eyes.

"I will be able to stay out longer…." She trailed off.

Tristan continued to look into her eyes

"You would stay with me the night?" he asked her.

Roxana blushed and nodded her head.

"Because you want to or because you fear I may find my way elsewhere?"

"I want to be with you Tristan…." She barely whispered to him, her eyes filling with tears and suddenly feeling very unsure of herself.

"If it is something you do not want….I….I mean….I'm sorry I said anything…." Her voice trailed off into a whisper and she turned her face away.

Tristan pulled her against him and claimed her lips in a hungry kiss. Roxana was caught off guard by the heat of his mouth. Her body started tingling and reaching up she grasped his braids and pulled him closer to return the kiss with an urgency she did not know she possessed.

Tristan pulled away.

"Roxana, I have thought much of you and being with you for some time now…." He paused and taking a deep breath continued, "I have always been honest with my intentions towards a woman from the beginning. I have never played with a woman's feelings or hopes and I will not do so now. With you I hesitate. You are not like any woman I have ever known before, and although I would be lying to say I do not feel something for you, I do not know what kind of a future I can offer you…."

Roxana leaned forward and caressed his lips with her own.

"Tristan, I too do not know where this will lead to, nor do I expect anything from you…."

She started feeling nervous, lost in new emotions that she had never felt before. An image of Roland flashed through her mind and she trembled. Not once had Roland stirred her senses as Tristan had in the short time he had returned. Not that he would stay with her forever. That was what he was trying to tell her and with a sudden force she realised that whether he stayed or not was not as important as what he could gift her with. The feeling and the act of being loved which would be cherished, remembered and carried within her heart until the end of her days. With a clarity that brushed aside all doubts and fears she knew at that moment that to risk being hurt was nothing compared to not_ feeling_ love at least once. _Come what may._

"Tristan, when you hold me in your arms I tremble and when you kiss me I feel as if I am drowning and have no wish to be saved. Show me your love Tristan, and I will be content with that…"

Tristan looked into her eyes searching for hesitation or uncertainty and finding none he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"Come." He said and jumped down, turning to help her. Taking her hand, he led her down a small path to where he had tethered his horse. Roxana looked at him with a question in her eyes.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, bending down to brush her lips lightly with his own.

She smiled and nodded.

He helped her climb up on the horse and then he settled behind her. She leaned against his chest, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder, feeling his arm wrap around her waist holding her close to him. He took the reins with his other hand and urged the horse forward. Within minutes they were riding through the forest, Roxana breathing in the night air heavy with the scent of flowers. Turning her head she kissed Tristan lightly along his jaw. She felt his arm tighten around her and pulled her even closer to him. Roxana felt his hardness and smiled with pleasure, as a veil of sensual awareness tingled through her. Within a few minutes they had reached the edge of a small spring. Bringing the horse to a halt, he gently helped her down to the ground before lightly jumping down and leading the horse to graze in the tall grass a short ways off. Roxana turned to look at the moon's refection in the still waters of the spring. She heard Tristan move behind her and felt his arms wrap around her waist. Leaning back against him she brought her hands to rest on his. They stood thus for a few minutes until Roxana turned in his arms and reaching up pulled his head down to hers and kissed him until they were both left breathless. Pulling his head back a little he looked at her.

"I have only so much control Roxana. If you are not sure, tell me now."

She looked at him and smiled.

"Have you always been this considerate with your lovers?"

Tristan brushed her cheek with his fingers.

"No."

Roxana heard the gruffness of his voice and saw the fire that lit up his eyes.

"I am sure."

Tristan pulled her close and softly began to trail kisses over her face before his lips descended to hers, his arms holding Roxana close, feeling her shiver and cling to him, moulding herself to the hard contours of his body. He deepened the kiss and she felt his tongue nudge between her lips, becoming insistent, searching and aggressive. This kiss was so different from all the others they had shared so far. Tristan seemed intent on branding the feel of his lips on hers, leaving his mark on her. She moaned and surrendered to his heat as it washed over her pulling down into his abyss. His lips moved down her neck, pausing at the base where his tongue flickered softly over her quickening pulse. She closed her eyes and dropped her head back, her arms clinging to Tristan's shoulders, her whole body swaying against his as a sweet throb began to slowly built inside her. Tristan ran his fingers lightly down her back before moving up to the leather laces of her dress, tugging at them. Slowly he started to draw the dress off her shoulders, his hands caressing her soft skin, following the soft garment's descent until it lay in a heap at her feet. He took a step back and let his eyes rove over her. Lifting her eyes to his she felt momentarily shy and instinctively raised her arms to cover herself, but he pulled her hands away and cupping her face pulled her gaze to his. His eyes smouldered with desire and appreciation and suddenly she felt beautiful.

His fingers skimmed over her shoulders and down her arm, moving to her hip and then up following the curve of her waist, continuing their ascent until they came to rest over her breast, his other hand caressing her back. She inhaled sharply as he bent his head and his lips briefly caressed one nipple then the other before taking it into his mouth and drawing on it, his teeth gently grazing the hardened nub. The throbbing continued to built in Roxana's core until it became an ache and she whimpered and moved against him, his arms tightening around her, his lips now caressing and kissing her other breast..

Tristan could feel Roxana's desire building and he sank to the ground and pulled her down with him, gently pushing her onto her back. He looked down at the woman below him and felt a new surge of heat rush to his loins. He was intent on bending Roxana to his will and his will was to make her lose control and abandon herself to him completely, despite her fear, insecurity and inexperience. Tristan had always focused more on his own pleasure, or better his release, rather than on his partner's needs or desire. With Roxana it was all so different. He had thought of the moment they would be together and he wanted to see her wither under him, to hear her calling out his name, shattering the night's silence as he took her over the edge. Above all he wanted her to be totally and utterly consumed by him, and to know that she would always yearn his touch and his alone.

"Will you help me undress Roxana?" he asked hoarsely.

She sat up pulling him up as well and leaning towards him pulled the toggles loose. Sliding her hands down his chest she slipped her hands under the hem of his tunic and slowly pushed it up wards her hands caressing his sides as they travelled up his arms which he had raised over his head. She pulled it off him and set it to the side. Turning back to him she softly pushed him back to the ground and leaned over him, her hair covering him like a blanket as her fingers started to explore his shoulders, running her hands down along his chest to his stomach. She bent down and trailed her own kisses and tongue along his neck and shoulder, eager to feel and taste his skin, while her hands moved over his chest and came to rest over his hardness which was straining against his breeches. She closed her eyes and with a sensuous smile slowly traced the outline with her fingers before opening her hand and rubbing lightly along its length. Tristan growled low in his throat and pulled her to him crushing her in his arms. Letting go of her briefly,

He sat up to pull his boots off and quickly remove his breeches before turning his attention to Roxana again.

Roxana's eyes travelled the length of him resting on his manhood which stood erect. He saw fear flash through her eyes and leaning forward to nuzzle her neck, took her hand in his, lacing his fingers with hers and whispered.

"Do not be afraid of me now Roxana…"

His hands moved over her body caressing, exploring, teasing and driving her to distraction. He cupped her breasts teasing her already hardened nipples before he slowly bent his head to taste them again this time at his leisure, sending her off into a spiral causing her to arch her back into his touch a light sweat covering her flushed body. Roxana surrendered to him completely, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissing the top of his head.

"Tristan…." She moaned and then cried out when she felt his hands gently press her legs apart, his fingers seeking her core, touching her. She flushed in embarrassment at the wetness and heat he found there, but Tristan only buried his face in her hair and groaned softly. He sensed her inhibition and lifting his face a little smiled down at her.

"Do not be ashamed of your desire Roxana…." He whispered before he once more claimed her mouth possessively while his fingers continued to stroke her. She moaned against his lips as his tongue explored her warm mouth, filling her with his taste and she moved under him her hips gently thrusting towards him of their own accord, responding to an instinctive need that welled from deep within.

Her own fingers continued to explore his arms and shoulders, following the course of the many scars that marked his skin. Tristan pulled back a little and let her fingers roam until he could bear it no more. He pulled her to him, his hard, naked body sending shivers coursing through her, the feel of his need pressed against her thigh. He nuzzled her neck before kissing her cheek softly.

"Roxana, touch me, I need to feel your touch, I need you to feel me…" he whispered, his hot breath sending new shivers coursing through her.

He took a deep breath to gain control over his raging desire, as she reached down and gently took him in her hands. She was surprised that such hard heat could feel so velvety soft. Tristan had slipped his own hand into her warmth and nearly lost control when he felt a new surge of wetness cover his fingers. Stroking him gently, she heard his ragged breath turn to pants. With a fervour she did not know she could feel she bent down and claimed his lips with her own, kissing him deeply as if trying to draw his very breath from him. Tristan could stand it no longer. He moved over her and bracing himself on his arms looked down into her flushed face. Her eyes had turned almost black from the passion Tristan had aroused in her, yet she tensed as she felt his member press against her core, a sliding thickness stretching her innocence. He stopped and bending his head kissed her tenderly, caressing her face with his fingers.

"I feel your desire Roxana, let me claim you as mine…"

Looking into the fire of his smouldering eyes, her fear was swept away and she raised her head to return his kiss. He pushed once again, momentarily meeting the resistance of her virginity, as she lifted her hips to meet his gentle thrust. Roxana gasped at the sharp pain and at the sensation of his girth filling her, digging her fingers into his back as she tense. He murmured soothing words into her ear and kissed her softly until he felt her relax under him. With infinite care he began moving against her, slowly at first and then increasing his speed as he felt her move with him. As the sharp pain receded, she focused on the feel of him inside her and she started matching his gentle thrusts, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him closer. The hot throbbing ache returned and started to become a wave of fire building deep within her, growing in intensity as Tristan rocked against her, threatening to engulf her.

"Tristan…." She cried out, not knowing what it was she was feeling only knowing that she had never had such a powerful feeling surge through her.

"Don't hold back Roxana, come with me!" Tristan ground out, his dark eyes looking deeply into her glazed ones.

Tristan continued to move within her and suddenly she felt as if she were forcefully thrown into the air, where for a moment she thought time stood still and space ceased to exist. She felt her body tremble violently almost in answer to Tristan's own shuddering body, as he reached his peak. She arched against him, calling his name out loudly only to hear her own name falling from Tristan's lips as with one final thrust he spilt his seed deep within her. A few moments later, he collapsed against her and she raised her arms to lovingly take him into her embrace. The power of their release left them both breathless and utterly lost. Tristan had had many lovers in the past but he had never experienced such a powerful release. In trying to subjugate her body he had fallen a slave to hers. They lay like that for a few minutes until Tristan rolled over, taking her into his arms and holding her closely. When he felt his breathing return to a more normal pace he kissed her forehead and stood up. Roxana watched him through half closed eyes, her body utterly limp and sore, revelling in the sweet languish of Tristan's lovemaking. He whistled sharply and a few moments later his horse trotted up to him. Taking a blanket from his saddle he walked over to Roxana and gently lifted her in his arms. He hugged her closely to him and Roxana lifted her arms to wrap them around his shoulders, leaning into him and nuzzling his neck. Within moments she felt the warm water of the spring engulf her and Tristan's hands running over her body. Roxana moved over to him and kissing him tenderly returned the gesture. As they got out Tristan wrapped her in the blanket and sat down pulling her into his arms and holding her. For the first time in his life he had given, not taken, and in return he had reached a peak he had never gone to before. He marvelled at the woman in his arms and for once letting go of his own insecurities and doubts welcomed and accepted the tenderness he felt welling inside. Kissing her tenderly he cushioned her head on his shoulder and smiled when he heard Roxana's soft sigh and felt her soft kiss and smile against him. Feeling her snuggling in his arms, he tightened his embrace and with a sense of peaceful contentment washing over them both, they drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Roxana opened her eyes slowly. She could hear the steady beating of her lover's heart beneath her cheek and a smile lit up her soft face. She pressed her lips against his warm skin and snuggled closer to him. Tristan tightened his arms around her in his sleep and she breathed a contented sigh. In the last few days she felt as if her whole life had changed and now revolved around this man who held her so tightly in his arms.

During the day Roxana helped Marien and Elissa in the fields, working alongside the men, and to anyone who saw Roxana and Tristan together, there was no cause for chatter as the two were polite to each other but distant. But late at night, they would meet at the tree and ride out to the spring where Tristan took Roxana to new and greater heights of passion and showed her what love was. They also started learning about one another and to Roxana's delight, Tristan slowly opened his heart to her. They talked of their different childhoods and their hopes for the future. Roxana particularly remembered one night. They were lying in each other's arms when suddenly Tristan sat up, pulling her beside him. She had looked at him in puzzlement, sensing but not understanding his change in mood. She was slowly coming to know her lover and she realised that sides of him which he allowed her to glimpse were difficult for him to show her. It was as if they had been buried so deeply within him that he himself felt surprise when they came to the surface. At these times Roxana held him tightly to her until the mood passed.

"Roxana, I'm thinking of asking Rexano for the plot of land which adjoins Jarid's hut.

Roxana looked at him.

"So you have decided to stay have you?" she teased him, her face lighting up.

"You have been most persuasive." He teased back kissing her nose lightly.

"If he sells it to me, with Jarid's help I could have our hut finished by the end of autumn. He said quietly, looking at her intently.

Roxana's breath caught in her throat and her eyes misted.

"Tristan…." She whispered.

Tristan pulled her against him, holding her tightly his chin resting on her head.

"The peace that you have given me these last few days has calmed my heart and turned my mind and thoughts to a life I never thought I could have. You have filled the emptiness I have carried within me all these years, and even though I may not be able to offer you what another may, I offer you all I have and am…"

Roxana sensed his nervousness and felt the tenseness of his body.

She pulled away to look into his eyes, her own shining with unshed tears. Taking his face in her hands she pulled him close.

"I do not care what another man may offer me Tristan, for you have become my world and I cannot imagine my life without you in it.

She saw relief and something else fill Tristan's eyes and her own overflowed with tears.

Tristan looked at her.

"Tears Roxana?" he smiled.

"Tears of happiness she answered before kissing him deeply.

"When your father returns, I will come and ask for you." He smiled.

Roxana's smile faltered for a moment, not long but long enough for Tristan to see it.

"Roxana, what is it?" he asked, looking steadily at her.

Roxana looked at him. Gods how she loved him! Nothing had been settled with Roland, nothing had been declared so there was nothing to tell him she thought. She knew she would have trouble with her mother and father, but for the first time in her life she did not care. She would fight them for this, she would fight them for herself, for Tristan and for the life she so longed to share with him. There was no need to bring up to Tristan something that was not certain and Roland's proposal was not certain. Her family and his had not settled, she had not accepted him as her intended and the intention to bind had not been declared before the elders. She would never accept anyone but Tristan, no matter what her parents said or did. Brushing these thoughts away, she turned to Tristan and smiled.

"My father may prove….difficult…." she said quietly.

"Ah!" Tristan frowned.

He reached out and took her in his arms.

"Do you love me?"

Roxana looked t him and her eyes filled with the love she felt for him in her heart.

"With everything that is in me." She whispered.

"Do you trust me?"

"With my life." She smiled and reaching up she kissed him.

"Of all the women who passed through my life, not one have I ever felt love for and not one have I ever trusted as I do you, and not one has ever touched feelings in me I never even knew I had. If we hold to our love and trust in one another, then nothing can be difficult, come what may." He said softly.

Roxana's eyes widened and overflowed with tears. _Come what may _ she thought.

"Crying again, my love?" he smiled tenderly and bent his head to kiss her tears away.

"The price of a heart overflowing with happiness." She whispered back. "I love you so…."

She felt Tristan move beneath her and lifting her head placed a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. Slowly he opened his eyes and a lazy smile played on his lips.

"Good morning, my love." Roxana smiled.

Tristan's eyes widened and looking around he frowned.

"It is almost dawn. Come! I must have you back to your hut before the villagers are out and about for the day."

"Oh!" Roxana groaned.

"I care not who sees us…"

"Or how?" Tristan cocked an eyebrow at her playfully, letting his gaze roam over her naked body which lay in his arms.

"Or how!" she laughed.

"Hmmm. Well I do. I will not set tongues wagging or do anything that may risk my losing you before I claim you from your father."

"Tristan," she smiled and ran her hand lightly down his body, "You've already claimed me many, many times." She whispered seductively.

Tristan's eyes widened and he laughed.

"Aye! And I plan on doing it again…" his eyes glittered and he swept her whole body in a long caress that made her tremble.

"Woman you have made me finally understand why Bor's could never say no to Vanora…" he mumbled between kisses.

"Tell me later…" Roxana sighed as she lost herself in him.

The sun was starting to rise by the time Tristan left Roxana at her hut. They had indeed stayed longer that night and little time was left for them to make ready for the day's work. As she was clearing the table from her breakfast of fruit, bread and water a knock was heard at the door.

"Come in Elissa!" she said and her friend pushed the door open.

"Give me a minute and we will be off." Roxana said smiling

"We have time Roxana." Elissa replied stiffly.

Roxana, who had picked up her wooden plate to clean, looked at her friend. Elissa was twisting her fingers together as was her habit whenever she was upset. Roxana waited for her to speak.

"Roxana…this morning I could not sleep and sat out by the tree… the cherry tree…"

Roxana set the wooden plate down and calmly turned to face Elissa.

"I saw you…and him…together…" she whispered low.

"His name is Tristan, you know it I think." Roxana replied evenly.

"From what I saw….I understood….." she trailed off.

"Understood what? That he is my lover?"

Elissa nodded.

"He is more than that Elissa. He is my life. Everything that a man can be to a woman Tristan is to me." Roxana replied quietly.

"Are you mad?" Elissa asked shocked.

"When your mother and father return…"

"When they return, Tristan will seek me for his wife. I will be his Elissa, I will have no other!"

Roxana said taking a step towards her friend.

"And what of Roland?" Elissa cried. "You have made a cuckold of him before you have made him husband!"

"Roland will never be my husband Elissa! You of all people should have realised this by now. How man times have I told you I will never have him, especially now!" Roxana said angrily.

"Aye! After having been tumbled by Tristan so hotly no doubt!"

"After having been tumbled by Tristan so hotly as you say, nothing on this earth, above it or below will make me let another man touch me!" Roxana replied vehemently.

Roxana looked at Elissa, her eyes welling up.

"Gods! If you, the closest person to my heart, cannot understand me how will the others understand how I feel?"

Elissa's own eyes misted and she ran to Roxana and held her tightly.

"Oh Roxana I understand more than you'll ever know…" her voice shook.

Roxana felt Elissa trembling and heard her soft sobs and suddenly she realised….

realised why Elissa never smiled anymore, why she stopped talking to her and why she always avoided her eyes.

"It's Roland…"

Elissa stiffened.

Roxana pushed her away holding Elissa at arm's length.

"The man you love….It's Roland."

Elissa's face turned crimson. She shook her head, but tears were already streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't lie to me Elissa! And please don't hide it from me."

Elissa couldn't meet Roxana's eyes, and after a few moments nodded her head mutely.

"Why, why did you not say something?" Roxana cried out.

Elissa looked up.

"What could I have said? When I found out, your father and his had already agreed to open talks for you."

"I…I had given myself to Roland, given him my love and my trust. I never thought he would betray me…" she laughed bitterly.

"I believed him when he said he loved me. I believed him when he said we would be together…and I trusted him with my life. I never thought he would look to another…"

Roxana started at her as she recalled Tristan's words and her heart felt as if a cold hand had clutched it suddenly.

"Trust…" Roxana whispered.

"Gods Elissa, Tristan said love and trust could fight against all odds."

Elissa laughed scornfully.

"Not if only one believes that…"

"What will you do?" Roxana asked softly.

"I cannot do anything! He must if he wants us to be together. Sooner or later the village will find out what I have done and I won't be worth much…Not that it matters…I loved once, I don't think I can again…" Elissa covered her face and broke into soft sobs.

"Did he at least tell you why he sought my father out for me?"

"He said your father and his had agreed and that they forced him to come to your hut. He said his father threatened him with something, but he would not tell me what it was. This is why they haggle over your bride price Roxana, your father and his want this not Roland…" she hung her head.

"There is more." She went on.

Roxana looked at her

"Word came last night of Roman troops coming to the area. A messenger from the next village came to inform the elders. They will come to order all the grown men to assemble there for questioning. Something is happening but no one knows what exactly and the elders are concerned. Roland spoke to my mother last night and said that something was in the air and for us to be alert."

"We will find out soon enough what this new trouble is no doubt… All the grown men you said, Tristan will go then…"

"As will Roland…"

The two girls exchanged worried looks.

Roxana held Elissa tightly.

"I will not have him Elissa. For me it is Tristan or no one." Roxana whispered in her ear.

Elissa pushed Roxana back.

"Does Tristan know about Roland?"

Roxana shook her head.

Elissa's mouth opened.

"Gods Roxana what were you thinking? You took Tristan as your lover and did not tell him that you have an intended?"

"I don't Elissa! By the gods you will drive me to distraction! An intended is when the bride price is accepted by both families and the intention to bind is declared before the elders. You know our customs as well as me! Another man can open talks for a woman even though another has already begun talks with the family."

"Yes, but your father has made it perfectly clear that in his opinion, Roland has been settled for you. The whole village believes this so. What surprises me is that nothing has reached Tristan's ears yet." Elissa mused.

"I'm not surprised. Tristan's aloofness brooks no familiarity between him and the villagers…He keeps to himself so. That is what first drew me to him…" Roxana said quietly.

Elissa looked at Roxana and started twisting her hands again. Roxana knew her to well not to know that she was hiding something.

"Tell me!"

"What?"

"Elissa, I know you too well…"

Elissa looked at her friend and sadness filled her eyes.

"Last night, Garad came to our hut."

"And?"

"He asked Marien to speak discreetly to Jarid on his family's behalf."

Roxana looked up sharply.

"He wants Jarid to know that if Tristan comes to ask after Eliana'a bride price, his claim will be looked upon favourably." Elissa finished quietly

Roxana felt the colour drain from her face.

"I suspect that Eliana has set her sights on a Sarmatian Knight. Roxana everything is against us!"

she said squeezing Roxana's hands tightly.

"No!" Roxana said fiercely.

"Let them speak to Jarid discreetly all they want! I know Tristan loves me and I trust him."

"When will Marien speak to Jarid?"

Elissa shook her head.

"I know not and dare not ask her."

"I will speak to Tristan tonight." Roxana said

Elissa nodded her agreement.

"Be careful! If anyone should see you as I did today…"

"Elissa, do you not understand? I care not who sees us or who finds out!" Roxana said defiantly.

Elissa threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

"Even your father? If he finds out…"

"He will find out! As soon as he comes home!"

Elissa shook her head.

"Roxana, it isn't only Roland, it's your father! Even if Roland were to withdraw from the talks, will your father give you to Tristan? _An Iazyges_?"

"I care not! Elissa do not paint everything so black. Would the goddess have sent him to me only to take him away? I cannot believe that!"

"Oh Roxana!" Elissa said softly, "Why did you not tell Tristan from the beginning?"

"I could not bear the thought of not knowing him…" she said softly.

"From the first moment I saw him on his horse with the hawk, I could not stop thinking of him.

It was as if my soul heard a call and went out to him." Roxana finished, crying softly.

"Oh Roxana, what are we to do?" Elissa asked her own tears falling freely once again.

"Something! We both feel love to strongly to let it slip through our fingers so easily!" she said with more conviction than she felt.


	10. Chapter 10

Jarid and Tristan sat outside their hut in the warm afternoon. Jarid was mending his fishing nets to set out that night in the river. Tristan sat next to him, lost in thought. Jarid glanced at him and smiled. He remembered Tristan as a small child, so happy and full of laughter. He used to be a child who constantly asked questions from the moment he woke up to the moment his small head would rest against the pillow at night and his brown eyes would glaze over with sleep, his eyelids drooping closed. Jarid remembered how attached he had been to his mother, following behind her wherever she went, either down to the river to wash or standing next to her while she cooked at the hearth. Jarid recalled those happy days and wished time could go back, so that he could be given a chance to take part in their happiness. In those days, he tended to keep to himself, brooding silently and rarely smiling, and although Isilt had no cause for complaint, for he was a good provider, there was always a distance and a void between them, which Tristan filled for her when he was born.

Jarid had returned home after discharging his duty to Rome and had seen her often in the village and during the feasts, but he had never sought her out. Indeed, in those days he had eyes for another. When he realised that despite his new social standing, rank and relative wealth he was still not good enough to gain what his heart really desired, only then had he turned to Isilt and she had accepted him, her family deeming him a good match. Only later did she realise that although Jarid lived with her as her husband, she would never touch is heart and slowly she became more quiet and withdrawn. When Tristan was born she gave to her son what she had longed to give to his father – her unconditional love which could have filled Jarid's home with laughter and happiness had she been given the chance. When she discovered she was pregnant again her cup of happiness brimmed over and she and Tristan would talk endlessly about the sister or brother that he would have. It was never to be and she died soon after a difficult childbirth, her second son following her the next day.

Tristan was lost. Too young to understand what had happened but too old to forget. He slowly pinned away, not speaking to anyone and going off on his own with stray or injured animals he nursed back to health as companions. He had no wish to play with the other children in the village and preferred to be left alone. The boy grew, and when the Romans came to take him, Jarid had bid him a safe return but had embraced him as if he would never see him again. Now, seventeen years later, the boy had grown into a man who had proven himself in battle, surviving trials that had destroyed stronger men. Jarid had served as a knight for Rome and knew better than anyone what kind of hard and empty life Tristan had had. Only his brothers in arms could understand him and he them. Often were the times that they would return from a battle victorious but with one less among their company. Death became part of you, sensing it was one step behind you but never knowing when it would claim you. During more quiet times, drink and women served as an outlet for their feelings and needs, but never filling the emptiness inside or offering them enough compassion and love to make them feel alive and to give them something to hold to.

Now Tristan was back, and Jarid was no longer alone. He thought of Isilt and wished she were there, her eyes shining as she turned to gaze at her son. More than ever he wished she were there to help Jarid understand and guide his son. Upon his return, Tristan had spent the first few days resting, helping his father and strolling through the market and square with Jarid, re-acquainting himself with the villagers. He had seen how the women had looked at Tristan and Jarid felt that he would soon be enticed by one of them and go to the girl's hut to ask for her bride price. Jarid looked forward to grandchildren, hoping to taste the happiness he had ignored in his youth. But of late, he had seen Tristan get up in the middle of the night, saddle his horse and ride off. Jarid pondered where he might be going, but he didn't have the courage to ask. The village was not a Roman fortress abounding with women who sold themselves, and although the villagers tolerated dallying among young people during the feasts where the atmosphere was more jovial, on the whole the Sarmatians guarded their daughters' honour and rarely chose their son in laws because their daughters had fallen in love with them. Tristan had been gone for so long that he did not know how the situation in the village stood in terms of alliances and hoped that the girl he was meeting had enough sense to know this. He trusted that whoever she was she would know if Tristan would he accepted by her family or not. He did not want his son to go through what he had gone through. Binding amongst the Sarmatians was based on forging new alliances or strengthening old one. If love grew between the couple, it was fortunate indeed. Most often it did not and the couple fell into a pattern of tolerating each other and raising the family which inevitably followed.

Jarid turned and looked at Tristan who had taken the other end of the net and was repairing it.

Suddenly the squawking of a hawk was heard in the distance. Tristan paused and pulling on a leather glove whistled. The hawk swooped down and perched on his extended hand, snapping up a piece of dried meat.

"Where have you been off to huh? Life here is very quiet and boring for you. Maybe tomorrow we'll go hunting so you can feel useful since our scouting days seem to be over." Tristan said looking down at the hawk and caressing its head.

The hawk nodded its head as if agreeing with Tristan and Jarid burst out into a raspy laugh.

"I swear that bird is more human than animal at times!"

Tristan glanced over to his father and smiling wryly replied.

"Sometimes this bird is more human than some humans I have met."

Jarid smiled once again remembering the boy.

"I saw Garad in the market this morning. He was asking how you were settling back to this life."

Tristan grunted softly.

"He also went out of his way to tell me that his wife and daughter are well and that his daughter is especially looking forward to seeing you again."

Tristan groaned inwardly. He was coming to find that although their approach was different the village women were just as persistent as the whores he had known back at the fort in their attentions towards the men, with one difference. Although he knew how to fend off the whores, he could not very well use the same tactics on the women, who also had equally persistent mothers.

Tristan sighed in exasperation and with a sheepish smile turned to his father and held his hands up in despair. His father chuckled and placing a consoling hand on his shoulder said.

"It will get worse before it gets better. Only when you make a choice will you stop feeling like prey."

Tristan's smile disappeared and his eyes shuttered. He sat back down and there was an awkward silence between father and son.

"I wish Isilt were here." Jarid said breaking the silence.

Tristan's eyes opened wide. It was the first reference Jarid had made to his mother in years.

"She would have known what to say. No doubt go straight to the point."

"About what?" Tristan asked eyeing his father.

"We sound like a couple of women fishing for gossip in the market or at the river." Jarid said and both of them chuckled loudly, startling the hawk which flew off and perched on the roof of the hut.

"Has anyone caught your eye?" his father asked awkwardly.

"Have I seen them all?" Tristan replied raising an eyebrow.

"I think so, they've all paraded in front of you in the last fortnight." His father replied.

Tristan looked down at this hands and after a moment replied.

"There is one who I have thought of…" and taking a deep breath continued.

"Roxana, daughter of Ivano and Galiana."

Jarid looked up sharply into Tristan's face and inwardly sighed.

"She is a Roxolani." His father said quietly.

"Aye, if memory serves me right. And we are Iazyges but Sarmatian nonetheless. Why?"

"Tristan, you have been gone for many years and although we live in this village peacefully, disputes between the tribes are still common. There are some who still hold fiercely to their tribal alliances and make a point, without being offensive mind, of maintaining them. Ivano is one of these men. He is now head of the Roxolani tribe in the village and has become most active in tightening the bonds between his family. He is an arrogant man who must be dealt with carefully."

Tristan listened to his father, pondering his words.

"And if I were to ask him for his daughter's bride price?" Tristan asked softly staring hard into his father's eyes.

Jarid shook his head sadly.

"She is a fine woman son, but Ivano will not accept you and I fear that he would also insult you in the process. Besides…."

Jarid looked at Tristan and after a moment's hesitation continued.

"He is in negotiations for his daughter's hand with Roland, a distant relative of his wife's. Granted Ivano is asking a high price, it seems Roland is not so willing to pay it, but Ivano will not break the negotiations off, which means that this alliance is important to him. If he is willing to have his daughter become the talk of the village, then rest assured he is planning something." Jarid said bitterly.

Tristan looked down at his hands once more.

"She has an intended…"

Jarid looked at his son.

"Well, not much of an intended, they have never been seen together courting as the village would expect, and nothing has been declared before the elders, but Ivano and Galiana act as if the matter has been concluded." Jarid shrugged.

Tristan was silent for a few moments before turning his attention back to the fishing nets.

Jarid looked at him and took up the other end of the net. He now knew without a doubt who Tristan had been meeting when he left in the middle of the night.

"Someone is coming." Tristan said softly.

Jarid looked up and a few minutes later, Marien came into view.

"Good afternoon Jarid, Tristan." Marien greeted the men.

Tristan nodded.

"What can I do for you Marien?" Jarid asked putting the nets down and standing up.

"A word Jarid if you please."

Tristan looked up.

"I will take the hawk out for a bit of hunting…" He said and whistling softly called the bird to him.

Nodding to Marien, he went to saddle his horse.

He took the path that led away from the village and within minutes was riding deep into the forest.

His mind was a blank but his emotions were in turmoil.

_She has an intended _…

After his experience with women in the past, why did he think Roxana would be different? Because she was Sarmatian and had grown up in his village?

Gods but he was a fool!

Women were women in the end. Why did she play this game with him? Why did she let him believe that he might, just might be able to have a life he never dared to think of? The question of why kept going through his mind. Why had she not told him. He could understand that she would hesitate at the beginning but later, after they became lovers, when he had told her of his hopes for a life with her and she had accepted. He had trusted her, he had opened up to her and had shown her how vulnerable he really was, and all this time she was Roland's intended…

What had Jarid said? Nothing has been settled. Roland disputed the high bride price. Suddenly it all became clear. What better way to hurry Roland along than to have another suitor vying for her. It would certainly force Roland's hand and give Ivano an advantage which would strengthen his position. And it was so easy for Roxana to manipulate him, from the beginning it was as if he had opened a window into his heart to let her see in. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he couldn't resist her. Perhaps she had sensed this and exploited it to such a point that Tristan knew he would have paid whatever bride price Ivano set. That's how much of a fool he had become in her hands…

The horse neighed and pulled Tristan's attention from his thoughts. It had taken the path which led to Roxana's hut. He pulled back sharply on the reins, bringing the startled horse to a halt. He looked in the direction of the hut for a moment before turning the horse around.

"Not tonight girl." He said.

He didn't trust himself to keep his control with Roxana tonight. He didn't trust himself as to what he would say, how he would say it and above all what he would do, and he knew himself well enough to know what he was capable of.

Roxana had waited impatiently for the sun to set. With each passing hour her anxiety grew and she longed to see Tristan. She had lost herself in the dream that was Tristan and it was not until she had spoken to Elissa that morning that she realised how close she had come to losing him. She pushed that thought aside, she could not, she would not lose him.

She need to see him, she needed to speak to him and she needed to feel his arms around her, to know he was still hers. He had spoken of marriage, a home, a life together and of his love for her…

Oh Gods Roxana thought, why hadn't she said something, but then how could she have? She knew she was making excuses for herself. She might not have been able to say something at the beginning but later? When he had spoken of a life together? She could have told him when she had told him how difficult her father might prove. A knock was heard at the door and after a moment's pause Elissa came in.

"Mother left a few minutes ago to go to Jarid's hut…"

Roxana looked at her then turned and went to stand by the door.

"Will the sun never set today?" she whispered.

Elissa came to stand next to her.

"Roxana, everything will be alright. Tell him and thank the gods he hasn't found out from anyone else."

Roxana nodded.

"And then we'll bind on the same day. Marien will be a happy woman…"

Roxana teased Elissa lightly, trying to hold her fears at bay.

Elissa shook her head.

"Not for me Roxana…"

"Why?"

"He let me go. He never even tried to fight for us…for me…" she said softly.

Roxana hugged her friend.

"Elissa, it will be alright in the end. It _has_ to be alright…"

An hour later Roxana and Elissa slipped out of the hut, Elissa making her way home and Roxana across to the tree. She climbed up and waited for Tristan, looking at the road every now and then.

The hours passed and the moon reached its zenith in the night sky, but the road remained empty and no one came down it.


	11. Chapter 11

Roxana ran through the forest her lungs feeling as if they would burst. The last two days and nights had been a nightmare for her. During the day Tristan gave her no opportunity to even exchange a few words with him as he had in the past. He kept his distance from her and when he did look at her she could not understand his expression. It was cold and distant, no smile played on his lips and no warmth lit up his eyes. At night Roxana waited for him to come but he never did. This morning she had taken the food to the men. Tristan sat alone and with downcast eyes she had asked him to meet her that night, if only to explain why he had changed towards her as he had. Tristan had looked at her coldly.

"You do not know?"

She looked into his eyes and knew that her worst fear had been realised.

"Please, if only for a moment, to let me explain…"

Tristan looked at her for a few seconds before nodding his head.

"You owe me that…but not at the tree. Meet me at the spring."

Reaching the pool, she paused to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. She saw Tristan's tall form standing by the edge of the water. The fear and anxiety she had felt these last two days were overpowered by the love she felt for him. Her heart beat faster and her arms ached to reach out to him and pull him to her, to hold him as she had on those nights when his own emotions had overwhelmed him. She could not hold back and walking swiftly up to him, slipped her arms around his waist. She pressed her cheek against his strong back and turning her face took a deep breath to steady her pounding heart.

"I have missed you so, Tristan!" she whispered and tightened her arms pressing her small form firmly against his.

He turned around, his face expressionless.

"My love, why did you not come these two nights' past?" she asked reaching a hand up and caressing his cheek. Tristan looked down at her but said nothing. When she reached up to kiss him he turned his head away and took a step back.

"You have something to tell me?" he asked moving to lean against a tree, his arms crossed.

"What have you to say to me…now." He asked looking at her closely.

Roxana looked at him, this was a side of Tristan she had never seen and it made her uneasy.

"I…I need to speak to you about something…" she said her courage faltering.

Tristan smiled slightly.

"Ah!" Tristan replied cocking an eyebrow.

Roxana held her hands tightly and taking a deep breath she whispered.

"Oh Tristan, I love you so…"

No sooner had she said that than Tristan's dark eyes hardened.

"To the point Roxana, I am not a patient man." He growled.

Roxana looked up startled and took a step back. Breathing in deeply she looked into his eyes.

"Tristan, before you came to the village, a man had entered into negotiations with my father for me…" she said quickly, afraid she would lose whatever little courage she felt and not tell him.

"Did he?" Tristan smiled lazily.

Roxana looked at him in confusion and nodded.

"Nothing has been settled…Tristan I know I should have told you before but…I couldn't. I was so afraid I would lose you, and I thought that as nothing had been settled, there was nothing to say…"

"At the beginning of our friendship." Tristan pointed out.

"What about later, when I started opening myself to you, letting you see how I felt and thought about you? When I told you I would come to your father?"

Roxana looked at him, her eyes filling with tears.

"I couldn't. I was so afraid you would walk away from me…and I told you, nothing had been settled…"

"Yes, Roland seems to disagree with your father's estimation of your value."

Roxana looked at him.

"You know…"she said softly.

"Aye, I know" he said quietly, and stepped towards her.

Taking her roughly by the shoulders he looked down at her. Roxana had never seen him so.

"Tristan, my love please… do not be angry with me. I should have told you but I was frightened. I couldn't bear the thought of not being with you…."

She reached up to touch his cheek, desperate to feel his warm skin on her fingertips, but Tristan pulled away.

"I see. So you thought best to keep quiet about it. It would take some time for me to find out from the villagers as I had just arrived."

"Tristan, I don't understand. You make it sound as if I deceived you! Roland was never my lover you know that! "

"Roxana, remember when we first met at the tree?"

She nodded.

"From that night on I let you see a side of me no one has. I am angry at you for using me and at myself for being so vulnerable to you. Trust Roxana, I thought you had understood what I wanted from you. I wanted no lies or pretence between us and I made that clear to you from the beginning. I could have tumbled you from the very first moment we met alone. You were so open to me that I could have taken you if I had chosen to, it would have been so easy…"

He took hold of her shoulders and pulled her close. The tension of his hard fingers hinted at the control Tristan exerted. His face was a grim mask, yet his eyes smouldered with desire. He still wanted her, the dark eyes gave that away. He wanted her yet he also showed his despise for her.

"Tristan…" Roxana whispered.

His mouth came down on hers swiftly, hard and bruising. Fear shot through her and she struggled to escape, but he refused to release her. He was forcing her head back, kissing her harder and deeper, biting her lower lip. She gasped in pain and tears gathered in her eyes, and abruptly the brutality of his kiss slackened. Tristan groaned something unintelligible, his hand caressed her breast and the pressure of his mouth softened into seduction. He grasped the leather laces of her dress and yanked them loose, taking hold of it and pushing it down over her hips with an urgency that gave her no time to fight him even if a helpless languor had not begun to course through her. Tristan sensed it and smiled. Quickly loosening his own breeches, he laid her back on the ground and moved until he poised above her and looked down into her eyes. He saw fear, confusion but also desire and bending his head he whispered in her ear.

"There was no need for false promises Roxana…"

And with one quick thrust he took her…quickly and urgently. Roxana gasped and instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist meeting his thrusts, abandoning herself to his will. She could hear his harsh breathing as he pushed against her and suddenly she felt that sweet tidal rush that took her over the edge and felt Tristan's own body arch before he collapsed against her.

Roxana felt Tristan's heart pounding against her and looked into his glazed eyes. She reached up to push his hair away and for a moment she saw him close his eyes and take a deep breath, as if savouring the caress, the moment lingered and quickly passed. He opened his eyes and once again she saw they were hard and cold. He pushed her hand away and quickly got up. Not once did he look at her while he was tying the laces of his breeches.

Roxana sat up and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Tristan, my love…"

Tristan turned and walked over to her. Crouching down on his haunches he looked directly into her eyes.

"Do not ever call me that again."

"Tristan…" Roxana whispered, her eyes filling and her cheeks burning. Lifting up a hand to him, he pushed it aside.

"Roxana, I have taken you for the last time, pleasurable though it may be." He said, his eyes sweeping over her.

Roxana stared at him stunned.

Tristan brushed a stray lock from her face.

"I will not be used so you can manipulate Roland to your will, whatever that will is. I care not nor will I waste time trying to understand it. I have wasted too much time on you as it is."

"Tristan, I love you…." Roxana whispered hoarsely, her throat constricting, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He gripped her wrist and shoved her against the tree. She winced as the bark scraped the skin of her back.

"Now, that I've taken you and know what I do, you really are no different from all the other women I have had in the past, perhaps more beautiful and with a greater air of innocence. The last is, I think, what made me lower my guard with you." He spat, bending down to pick up her clothes.

He straightened and threw them at her.

"Get dressed!" he snarled.

Roxana caught her clothes and clutched them to her.

"Marry Roland, Roxana, if he ever agrees to pay your bride price, but for his own good, I hope he doesn't trust you as I did. You'll be rivalling the baker's wife if he does."

He took a step back.

"I could have loved you all my life and unlike Roland, I would have paid any bride price your father asked. That's how precious I thought you were to me. You played with me very well Roxana. I trust that should make you feel very proud. No other woman can boast of such an accomplishment."

"…all because I did not tell you about Roland…or is it something else Tristan?" Roxana's voice rose.

Tristan's eyes narrowed and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Is it Roland or is it Eliana?"

Tristan saw the suspicion and hurt in Roxana's eyes, and even though he felt pain, he also felt satisfaction that he could use Garad's proposal to strike back at her.

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Roxana's face blanched and she felt her head go light.

"How can you be so cruel…" she whispered.

"Finish Roxana, it is late and I want to be off."

"What will happen now?" she asked, a numbness creeping all over her body.

"What can happen? Nothing. There is no need to worry about others finding out that you laid with me with such enthusiasm."

Roxana winced, his words biting cruelly at her.

"What we shared is no concern of anyone's." She leaned her head against the tree weakly.

"What you do is your affair, as to what I will do, that is no longer your concern. No doubt you will find another to become your pawn…" he said scornfully.

"You were no pawn!"

"Do not dare to continue your lies to me!" He lashed out.

"And if I had told you earlier, would you have reacted differently?" she cried out.

"I am tired of this Roxana!" he said and his voice held a dangerous note to it.

"Answer me that and leave!" she cried out.

"I would have walked away, at the beginning…but later if you had told me, even the last night we were together, I would have fought for the chance to share a life with you. I would never have doubted you for a moment and I would never have let you go."

Roxana looked at him.

"And is your love so shallow that it can die in a moment…?"

He looked down at her and after a moment's pause whispered.

"No. I will no doubt carry it as I carry all the other scars I have, and which serve as a reminder of the mistakes I have made."

Finishing, he turned and left without looking back once to where Roxana sat, staring after his retreating figure, tears falling silently down her face.


	12. Chapter 12

Tristan made his way back to his hut. He knew he would not be able to sleep and sat outside, his head pounding and his heart heavy. The door opened and Jarid came out.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" he asked

Tristan shook his head. Jarid nodded and sat down next to him.

"A messenger arrived earlier this evening. Seems there is trouble brewing in the next village, and several men from our village might be involved. We are to go the day after tomorrow for questioning. A Roman delegation will be there to determine the nature and the extent of the trouble."

"Did the messenger say anything else?"

"Aye, seems Ivano,Rexano and others were rash enough to talk about revolt and someone must have said something. Now the Romans want to know if its only talk or if it's gone further."

Tristan nodded.

"We won't be gone more than two days. The whole village is in an uproar and the elders are vowing that if any of this holds true then they will be severe with those involved."

He looked at Tristan and after a few moments continued.

"We also had another message this evening."

Tristan looked up and waited.

"Garad sent a message with Marien. Should you enquire after Eliana, the family would not disapprove of it."

Tristan looked out towards the fields for a while and then turned to his father.

"Tell him that after we return from the questioning, I will call on them."

Jarid's eyebrows shot up.

"Were you not asking after Roxana last night?"

Tristan looked at him.

"Last night I was mistaken." Tristan replied softly.

"Hmmm." Jarid looked out over the fields, picking up a pebble and playing with it. Jarid wondered what had happened, but realised that whatever it was, Tristan was angry and was not thinking rationally.

"You know, you remind me so much of myself when I came back from Rome."

Tristan looked at Jarid.

"In what way?"

Jarid took a deep breath.

"The men of our family have always been drawn to Roxolani women."

Tristan looked at him sharply.

"Isilt wasn't Roxolani."

Jarid looked at him and smiled.

"When I came back, much like you, the women of the village clustered around me, and one caught my eye. She was young and in my opinion the beauty of the village. We met often and we became close. We wanted to marry and so I went to her father's hut to ask her bride price. Her family however had another in mind and so rather than reject my proposal and give rise to village gossip, they set the price so hight that I could not pay it."

Jarid paused, his eyes glazed as he remembered the past. Tristan had turned to look closely at his father, surprised at what he was hearing.

"I asked her to go away with me, I was young and felt that with this woman by my side, I could live a happy life. I had enough coin for us to live comfortably, but not in the village. If she had defied her family for me, we would not have been given a moment's peace." He said quietly.

"We agreed to leave and make a life for ourselves elsewhere and so one night I waited for her to come so we could leave. She never did. Several days later, I learnt that she was to bind with the man her family had chosen for her."

"Did she not tell you anything? No reason for her change in heart?"

Jarid shook his head.

"I married you mother soon after she had married the other."

"Did you ever love Isilt" Tristan asked quietly.

"I was so hurt and bitter about what had happened that I could not let Isilt come close to me I respected and honoured her as my wife and as your mother, but I could not feel for her what I had felt for the other."

"Did you ever tell her this?"

No. But your mother was clever enough to realise how I felt and too noble to say anything about it. She just became very…"

"…quiet." Tristan finished

Jarid nodded.

"It took me years to realise that in the end, I had loved Isilt. It was not the intense love that I had felt for the other. It was more quiet and peaceful, but when I understood this, I had already lost her." Jarid finished quietly, staring off into the distance.

Tristan remained quiet, thinking about what his father had just told him. Turning to the older man once more, he asked.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I think I know who has caught your eye Tristan, and if it so, you will have trouble as I did."

"It is Roxana," Tristan admitted.

"I thought as much." Jarid nodded.

"If she is willing to defy Ivano for you, then you have a chance at being happy."

"She did not tell me about Roland. If she were willing to defy her father would she not have told me about him? Wouldn't that have shown me that she was willing to fight for what we had?" Tristan said not looking at his father.

"So you are angry because she did not tell you?"

Tristan nodded.

"And because I am not sure of her anymore. How do I know that I was not used to persuade Roland in the negotiations?"

"Tristan, I have known Roxana since she was a child. She would not deceive you intentionally. Now her father is another matter. He would deceive his own mother…" Jarid spat on the ground.

"Tonight when we met, I lashed out at her, wanting to hurt her because I was no longer certain of her feelings for me…" Tristan said in a low voice.

"I told her I had finished with her…"

Jarid looked at his son and compassion filled his eyes. He knew the pain Tristan felt only too well and the reaction.

"And have you?" Jarid asked with a smile.

Tristan looked at him and after a few moments shook his head.

"If Roxana said she loves you, then she does. I just hope that she has the courage to confront her father and defend her feelings for you and to realise why you spoke to her as you did tonight."

Tristan rubbed his temples, taking in a deep breath.

"As for Garad's proposal, do not do anything you may regret. If you decide that in the end you cannot be with Roxana, then all I can tell you is this. If you marry another, make certain that there are no ghosts to come between you and your wife. Do not waste your chance for happiness, even if it is not with the one your heart wanted."

Jarid sighed and looked at his son.

"That is the only advice I can offer you."

Tristan gave his father a small smile and turned his attention back to the fields. After a few moments he asked.

"Who was the woman?"

Jarid paused and smiled.

"Marien."

Tristan's eyes widened in surprise and Jarid chuckled at his expression.

"I am off to bed. I will see you in the morning." Jarid said quietly and went into the hut.

Tristan rested his head in his hands and thought of what Jarid had said.

Could he ever forget Roxana? Not likely, even tonight when he felt such anger, after he had left her at the spring, he had doubled back and followed her from a distance to make sure she returned to her hut safely. He would go with Jarid to the next village in two days time and then would wait to see what would happen. If she sought him out one more time he would set aside his doubts and see how they would face Ivano. If in the end she married Roland, he did not think he would be able to stay in the village, and for the first time in many months, he thought of that far away island where he had served his duty for so many years.

Roxana had returned to her hut devastated. She had fallen on her pallet and cried herself into an exhausted sleep. The next morning she felt someone shaking her softly. Opening her eyes she looked into Elissa's worried face. Slowly and without a word she got up and made her way to the table where she sat down.

"What happened?" Elisa asked sitting next to her.

"It's over Elissa…" she whispered and passed her hand across her brow feeling a dull ache beginning.

"He found out." Elissa said and Roxana nodded.

"Didn't you explain to him…"

"I tried, but he accused me of using him to put pressure on Roland and the negotiations."

Elissa looked at her in disbelief. A soft knock was heard at the door. The girls exchanged looks and Roxana rose to open it. Roland came in with a grim look on his face. He stopped short when he saw Elissa.

"What do you want Roland?" Roxana asked irritably.

Roland turned to face her.

"Only to tell you that all the men of the village are to leave tomorrow. We're wanted for questioning in the next village."

"What is all this about Roland?" Elissa asked, her voice full of concern.

Roland smiled at her sadly.

"It seems that my father, Ivano and several men of the village who left almost a fortnight ago have stirred up trouble. The Romans have got wind of it and are investigating. I hope for all our sakes they find nothing."

Elissa took a deep breath and sat down.

"What can they possibly find Roland? There is nothing there! The Romans are becoming nervous and overly anxious again." Roxana said dismissing the matter.

Roland came and sat down at the table.

"No, Roxana. There is plenty to find and if they do it will not go well for the village."

Roxana looked at him for a moment and shook her head.

"Roland, you don't know what you speak of…" Roxana spoke curtly.

"Don't I?" Roland looked at her his own anger rising.

"Why do you think I came to your hut Roxana to ask after your bride price? We have never exchanged anything more than polite formalities. You never sought me out as I never sought you and yet I came. Did you never wonder why?"

Elissa's sharp breath was audible to all. As was the fire that started to burn in Roxana's eyes.

"Aye! I have often wondered why and now more than ever have cursed the moment you did!

I would like to know why, since you claimed to be in love with someone else for a year!" She asked angrily.

"Roxana, no!" Elissa whispered horrified, the colour draining from her face.

"No Elissa, I want to know. I want to know why Roland one fine day decided to ruin your life and mine as well!"

Roland looked at her and all the anger he had felt these last few month came to the fore.

"Talk of revolt had begun a while ago Roxana. It seems that your father and mine belong to a party of men who want to overthrow the Romans and install the Roxolani as the ruling tribe in Sarmatia. A marriage between us would cement our two families' alliance."

Roxana was looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"So you decided that power was greater than what you felt for Elissa? Is that it?" Roxana spat out disgustedly.

"No! I would never have done anything to jeopardise my life with Elissa. I wanted her mine and the mother of my children! I still do!"

"Ah yes, but when it came to standing up to you father you tucked tail and ran!" Roxana couldn't hide her scorn for him.

"If your father had threatened to ruin the person you loved most in this world, what would you have done?"

Roxana looked at him, her eyes widening.

"Elissa?"

Elissa sat staring at Roland, her heart pounding. Roland nodded and looked away.

"How?" Roxana asked, but he only shook his head.

"How? Answer me Roland! I want to know!" Elissa asked him, her voice rising.

"Elissa, you have suffered enough. You will only worry and there is nothing that can be done."

Roland pleaded with her.

He knew her well enough to know that she would be mortified if he told her that someone knew about them, especially his father.

"Roland, I _need_ to know." Elissa said taking hold of his arm.

Roland looked at her and took her hands in his.

"My father knew about us. I don't know how he found out but he knew. If I hadn't come to Roxana's hut he would have made our relationship known in the village. Elissa, I could not let him do that. I could not let you suffer public shame because we fell in love. The village gossips would have turned our love into nothing more than a sordid affair and you would have been scorned in the village."

Roland finished, his eyes on Elissa.

"I love you too much! If the village found out, it would have ruined your chance for a respectable future. No other man would have sought you out in marriage then. If I could not be with you, at least I would know you had a chance at happiness with another…"

Elissa looked at Roland for some time before standing up and going over to him. She pulled him up and opened her arms to hold him close. Roland reached up and wrapped his arms around her waist. Burying his face in her soft hair he pressed her close to him.

Roxana looked at them and saw the same love she thought she had shared with Tristan. She stood up and went to lean against the open door, gazing out over the fields beyond. She was happy for Elissa and Roland but her anger was starting to rise again. Her father was involved in something that put not only his family but the whole village at risk. He had used her as a pawn in _his _game and she now began to understand Tristan's anger. Not that it mattered anymore. She had lost him and although she could feel anger towards her father, it was her own fault that things had gone as they did. She was tired of it all. Turning around she walked back to the couple who had eyes only for each other.

"Roland, I'm going to the elders today. I will tell them that I refuse to recognise your bid for my bride price and that I will never accept you as a possible husband no matter what my father may say and do."

"And if the elders ask you why?" Elissa asked anxiously.

Roland pulled Elissa to him.

"I will go with Roxana, and if they ask why I will tell them I had already promised another and I should have known better than to have let my father persuade me to go back on my word.

Elissa when I return I will come to Marien and ask for you."

Elissa smiled sadly at Roland before turning to her friend.

"Have you thought of what your father will do when he finds out?"

An overwhelming weariness washed over Roxana.

"I do not care. I cannot stand by and see three lives ruined, yours, mine and Roland's because of other men's ambitions."

"There is more as well, isn't there?"

Roxana's eyes filled with tears and she nodded.

"To prove to him that Roland's bid never meant anything to me and that I never used him…" she finished and turned to walk over to the open door.

Roland looked at Elissa in confusion, but she only shook her head at him, and leaving his side went to Roxana.

"Everything will be alright Roxana!"

Roland came and stood next to her.

"Roxana we still have a battle before us, but know that I am your friend and ally and will stand by you. I'm sorry if I caused you any hurt." He said and looking at Elissa continued.

"I could only think of Elissa and not once did I spare a thought for you."

Roxana smiled and turned her gaze out towards the fields once more. Roland had thought of Elissa, did Tristan think of her at all she wondered.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning all the village had gathered in the square to see the men off. Roxana had not left her hut the day before, claiming illness to Marien who had fussed around her, and even though she dreaded the moment she would come face to face with Tristan, she could not convince Marien to let her stay behind.

The night before Roland had met her in the square and together they had consulted the elders.

The old men had listened to them carefully and had asked each one the same question-why?

Roland had replied that he had promised marriage to another but that his family had forced the binding with Roxana. When it came to Roxana's turn she had said that she too had chosen another and she did not wish for Roland. The elders had raised their eyebrows to her response but had been discreet enough not to ask who the person was. They were told to wait outside and after a lengthy discussion amongst themselves had called the couple in to tell them that their request had been granted. From this day it was as if the negotiations for a binding between them have never begun, nor were they obligated to accept the binding even if their families wished it.

Both heaved a sigh of relief and left. Roland had gone to Elissa to tell her the news and to ask that she prepare Marien so that he could come to ask for her bride price. He was determined to marry her even if he had to defy his father.

That night Roxana lay out on the soft grass and thought of her life and what might happen. Her parents would be angry, but she didn't care. They would rant and rave and no doubt make her rue the day she was born but at least Elissa would be happy. Despite the pain and anger she felt, that was the only bright and happy outcome of this affair. Her mind strayed yet again to Tristan and she looked towards their meeting place. She relived their last moments together and she broke down. There was one moment that she was certain he had shown weakness towards her, right after he had made love to her and before he told her that it was the last time they would be together. Her heart felt as if a hand had taken hold of it and was squeezing tightly. Even though what they had had ended so suddenly, she at least had the satisfaction of ending the negotiations with Roland. In her own way she had found the courage to show Tristan that despite what he believed she had loved him and she had never wanted Roland as husband.

Did he think of her? She wondered or had Eliana begun to replace her in his heart? Did they meet and was he as tender with Eliana as he had been with her before his anger? These questions cut into her heart, a pain she knew she had only herself to blame for.

A gentle nudge brought her out of her thoughts. Tristan had arrived on his horse with his hawk following in flight, and for a moment her mind went back to that first moment when she had seen him. She wished that time could go back and she could have another chance with him.

She stood next to Marien and Elissa and from behind Marien's broad back she looked around the square. The men were mounted and ready to go. Tristan sat on his horse, the hawk now perched on his arm. Roxana's eyes settled on him but he was looking elsewhere. She was tempted to turn and follow his gaze but her courage failed. She dreaded turning to see that Eliana was the object of his attention. Instead she looked at the other women who had gathered to see the men off. Eliana stood quietly next to her mother but Roxana noticed that her gaze never strayed. When the signal was given to depart, she smiled brightly and nodded her head.

"Elissa, is she looking at him?" Roxana whispered.

Elissa nodded.

"And Tristan?" she asked tightly.

Elissa turned discreetly and after a moment nodded.

Roxana clutched at her friend's hand and only when they left did she turn to stare after Tristan's departing figure. When she turned she caught Marien looking at her. She quickly turned her head away and stepped closer to Elissa. Elissa looked at her and smiled sadly. She had never seen Roxana so crushed or so lost. The women made their way across the fields towards Marien's hut. As the men were away, there was nothing for the women to do. The days would be spent tending the vegetable plot outside their hut or housekeeping chores.

Once there, Marien set the table for a light breakfast and sat down with the girls. The normally verbose Marien was remarkably silent that morning, as were the girls who were usually chatty. Both seemed lost in their own thoughts. Marien threw her half eaten piece of bread on the table and looking at both of them asked.

"Alright then, what is it?"

Both girls shook their heads too quickly for her liking.

"I will ask again. What is going on?"

The girls looked at each other. Elissa pursed her lips, while Roxana shrugged.

"She'll find out soon enough. Now is just as good a time as any." Roxana said wearily.

Elissa looked at her and with an air of resignation, nodded.

"What will I find out soon enough?" Marien asked sharply.

"Mother, there is something that you should know…that I need to tell you…well I suppose you might have…."

"Stop babbling girl and spit it out!" Marien said impatiently.

"Well, It seems that ….in a few days…or perhaps more…it all depends on how things in the next village go…."

Marien looked at her blankly for a moment before turning to Roxana.

"Maybe you can make more sense." She said cutting Elissa off.

"Marien, when the men return from the next village, Roland will come and ask for Elissa's bride price." Roxana said getting to the point.

The same blank expression continued on Marien's face before turning back to Elissa.

"Did she just say Roland or did I hear wrongly?"

"No mother, she said Roland."

"But Roland is Roxana's intended…"

"He is not my intended! Gods I'm sick of this!" Roxana cried out, her eyes flashing.

"According to your mother and father, who have made it know to the whole village, _he is _" Marien shot back.

"Well not as of today! Roland and I went to see the elders last night and declared that the negotiations should not have begun in the first place since neither of us wanted it. We told them that we both wanted this to end."

Marien sat in her seat staring open mouthed at her.

"You did what?" she roared.

"You heard me Marien. I never wanted Roland, and he never wanted me. It was this cursed revolt that made our fathers seek out an alliance between our families!"

"And what did the elders say?" she asked apprehensively.

"They accepted our decision." Roxana replied.

Marien's eyebrows almost left her face, they shot up so fast.

"They would never do that before consulting your families!" She countered.

"Well, they did, and I'm glad for that!"

Marien's head was reeling. The elders rarely acted this way. Their normal response was to call the families together to discuss the matter, unless…"

unless they felt they had grounds to suspect what the messenger had said was true. It would be an opportunity for them to squash any possible power alliance between Rexano and Ivano and it would be a gesture of good will towards the Romans when it became known in the village and to them that they did not approve of what may be afoot.

"Mother?" Elissa whispered interrupting her thoughts. Marien turned to look at Elissa and suddenly things started to make sense.

"Is this why you were so quiet and sad these last few weeks? Because Roland was asking after Roxana?"

Elissa nodded.

"I love him mother…and he feels the same for me."

Marien raised an eyebrow doubting her.

"Marien it's true. He loved her more that any one of us could imagine." Roxana said quietly.

"And what becomes of you?" Why did you go with Roland? Could he not have gone alone and at least spared you from your father's wrath?"

Roxana lowered her eyes and shook her head.

"I had to go."

"Why?" she asked sharply, "did he force you?"

Roxana quickly shook her head.

"No. I told him I was going and he tried to take all the responsibility on himself."

"Then why did you go Roxana? Best tell me now before your father comes, so we'll know how to face him!"

Roxana looked down at her hands.

"Because I had to find a way to show someone how much I love him, even though he doubts me."

Marien looked from one girl to the other trying to understand.

"You love him? Him? Who? Answer me Roxana!"

Elissa went to stand by Roxana who was starting to crumble. Roxana looked into Marien's eyes pleading for the older woman to understand her.

"Tristan." She whispered.

Marien nearly fell off her chair.

"By all the Gods above and below!" she roared.

"I love him Marien." Roxana said quietly.

"If your father finds out…" Marien stuttered.

"I will tell him as soon as he returns."

Marien's eyes widened.

"So, Tristan asked you for this? Is this what you're telling me?" she asked suspiciously.

"No! He…he does not know anything…"

"Does this mean that he will come and ask for you then?" Marien asked.

Roxana shook her head and tears filled her eyes.

Marien's expression was one of complete bewilderment which quickly turned to exasperation.

"Start explaining the pair of you or grown women or not you will feel the back of my hand sharply!

What I didn't do to you as children I'll do now, I swear it on all I hold dear!" she yelled.

Elissa quietly explained all that had happened between Tristan and Roxana to a stunned Marien. When she finished, Marien turned to face Roxana who had turned pale and was trembling.

"He doubts my love. He thinks I used him to force Roland's hand in the negotiations, not that it matters anymore, he has finished with me Marien, but I had to show him that he was wrong…

and cruel." She said brokenly.

Marien looked at her with a sardonic smile on her face.

"The men of that family don't finish with the women they love that easily." She muttered.

Both girls looked at her dumbstruck. Marien shook her head, as if trying to clear her thoughts.

"Even if he comes, your father will not accept him." Marien said thoughtfully.

"If he were to come for me Marien I swear I would follow him to the ends of the earth as long as I was with him, but he won't come…"

"Would you defy your family? Go with a man knowing that he would be the only one to offer you protection and support? Could you live with the knowledge that you did not belong to your family and that their door would be firmly shut to you Roxana, no matter what happened to you?"

Roxana lifted her face to Marien and looking into her eyes whispered.

"And be with Tristan? Yes! And I would never doubt or regret my decision. I...I can't think of my life without him now that he has come into it. Oh Marien!" Roxana fell into the older woman's arms and sobbed, "It will never be and I don't know how I can accept that. I don't know what I will do if he seeks Eliana out for his wife…instead of me." She whispered.

"Hush child!" Marien crooned, rocking Roxana in her arms much as she had done when Roxana was a only child and had been reprimanded or humiliated by her mother or father.

"It's not Tristan who worries me as much as your father."

She knew Ivano well enough to know what wrath he was capable of. He prided himself on his modal family and his obedient and dutiful daughter and she feared to think to what lengths he might go to not lose face in the village on that boast.

Holding Roxana close, in her mind's eye she saw herself as a young girl sobbing as desperately as Roxana because she had to let go of the only man she had loved body and soul. She did not have the courage to leave her family or faith in her lover to care and protect her all her life. She had not followed him and with the exception of Elissa who was the only joy of her marriage, she had regretted her decision every single day of her life. Her mind raced, trying to see possible solutions, but all crashed and shattered against that stone wall which was called Ivano. She thought of Galiana but dismissed her as quickly. Galiana would stand by her husband on this matter. She was too haughty and conscious of her rank in the village and would never sacrifice either for her daughter's happiness. She bent her head and kissed Roxana on the forehead before drawing the girl closer, sending up a silent prayer to the goddess Lada to be more merciful to Roxana than she had been to her.


	14. Chapter 14

The men had arrived at the next village to discover that a whole garrison had been posted there by the Romans. They had set up their camp on the outskirts of the village and were busy questioning the men. The women were in their huts, afraid to venture out and all work in the fields had been abandoned. The atmosphere was tense not only because of the presence of the Romans but from the disruption in their work. If their wheat crop was ruined because of this trouble the whole village would most likely have a difficult winter ahead. When word got out about what was afoot the outrage that swept the village was great. How dare a few men jeopardise their well beings for politics! The anger in the village was almost tangible and it would not bode well for those involved if the rumours proved true.

Tristan and Jarid, being given Roman citizenship after their term of service, were escorted quickly before the officers and after a few minutes of questioning were dismissed. Not that the Romans trusted their loyalty, but they new that after fifteen years of service, former knights were well aware of the odds of a successful revolt and they were intelligent enough not to get involved. The other men were not so lucky, some being kept well after sunset and told to return the following day, while others were taken to the Roman camp and kept under guard. The elders had requested that they be present during the questioning, a request which was granted to them.

Tristan and Jarid had set up their tent with the other men and had finished eating a simple meal when Roland approached them.

"Good evening Jarid, Tristan."

The two men nodded and motioned for him to sit down. Roland sat next to Tristan, but declined the offer of food Jarid made.

"How goes the questioning with your father Roland?" Jarid asked.

"He is still in and I was not allowed to speak to him so I do not know." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Actually, I came not to discuss my father, but to have a word with Tristan."

Jarid and Tristan exchanged glances, before Jarid rose from his place.

"I will go and see what the other men are doing. When you have finished come and find me there." And with a nod he left.

The two men sat in silence for a bit, Tristan wondering what he wanted to tell him and Roland not knowing how to begin.

"I have come to talk to you about Roxana."

Tristan's eyes shuttered.

"What do you want to say?" he asked warily, not knowing where this conversation would lead.

"I have been told recently that you and Roxana have grown…close…of late." He said visibly uncomfortable.

Tristan looked at Roland and sighed, his eyes hardening.

"On my honour, I did not know she had an intended. I had no wish to wrong anyone in the village, had I known I would never have looked her way. Now that I have found out I assure you that I have no wish to pursue the matter any further. I bear full responsibility for what happened between Roxana and myself as I should have first inquired after her before approaching her." Tristan said curtly going straight to the point. He would not hide between half truths or excuses.

"I see you are a man of honour Tristan and trust that what we speak of tonight with remain here."

Tristan looked at him and nodded.

"You have my word." He said quietly, curious as to what Roland had to say.

"Roxana was never my intended Tristan. She wanted this alliance even less than I did and I didn't want it at all!"

Tristan looked at Roland closely.

"It was arranged by our fathers. We were never asked our opinion at all. I am attached to Elissa, her friend, and it was and still is my intention to make her my wife."

Tristan's eyes widened.

"Then why did you seek Roxana? That doesn't sound like something a man in love with another woman would do."

Roland looked around and moved closer.

"To conclude an alliance that would be useful for another cause." He said in a hushed tone.

Tristan looked at him sharply.

"So what the Romans suspect is true then." He said quietly.

Roland nodded.

"I do not know to what extent things have been developed. I was never told anything. Perhaps my father thought it was the best way to protect me, since if it failed and he was executed at least I would continue our family line since I am the only surviving male of his family. At least that is what my mother told me last night."

"I hope for all our sakes things have not reached a point where there will be trials and executions." Tristan murmured.

"My father had discovered about Elissa and me and he threatened to ruin Elissa's reputation in the village if I did not give her up and marry Roxana. Tristan, I am a simple farmer, I know no other trade, nor do I have the means to pick up and go elsewhere with Elissa and start a new life.

I could find no way around his demand and so I gave in. I could not bear to see Elissa suffer because she had feelings for me and you know what the people in our village are like."

"I am beginning to know what they are like. An effective tactic on Rexano's part." Tristan replied.

Roland nodded.

"I had no choice but to do what he asked. My father was acting under the influence of Ivano who had convinced him that the revolt would be successful and that once the Roxolani tribe became the ruling party he would reap his share of the reward for his participation.

"It seems that things have, unfortunately for them, gone awry." Tristan said nodding in the direction of the Roman camp.

"And not only on that front." Roland murmured.

Tristan looked at Roland questioningly.

"Why? What else has happened?"

Roland looked at him and grinned.

"Last night Roxana and I went to the elders. Tristan she released me from the negotiations!"

Tristan gave him a startled look, not daring to believe his ears.

"I also shouldered the responsibility, but she was the one that took matters in hand in the end. That way we'll both have our skins flayed!" he said smiling.

"For someone who's going to be flayed, you look might happy!" Tristan retorted

"Aye, I am. I do not know to what end our actions will lead but at least I can look Elissa in the face and know that she now understands why I did what I did."

"Why? Why now and not before? Was it because her father and yours were here and not in the village?"

Roland shook his head.

"No, something else happened to Roxana, although she did not say anything to me. All she said to me was that she couldn't allow our fathers to ruin our lives any longer, and…"

"And?" Tristan asked

"…and that she wanted to prove to someone that what she felt was true and that she had never intended to manipulate anyone. At the time I didn't understand, but Elissa told me later that she was referring to you."

Tristan's face softened and a small smile played on his lips.

"She loves you Tristan, enough to risk her father's wrath for you. When he finds out what she has done, it will not bode well for her."

Tristan looked at him and after a few moments asked.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Roland looked at him and smiled.

"I may be a simple farmer, but I feel honour bound to set things right. If I had had the courage to resist my father from the beginning we would not be where we are now. If I had shown more courage in the past perhaps my father would have trusted my judgement when I disagreed with this revolt and had made another decision. What is done is done and nothing can be changed, but I will stand by Roxana, the Gods know she'll need help when she confronts Ivano, and she is determined to confront him. I have never seen Roxana so set on something before."

Tristan stared into the fire, feeling as if he heart would burst. He had hoped that when he returned Roxana would make an effort to approach him once more. He was too ashamed of his treatment of her the last time they had met for him to try to speak to her. He had meant to break with her and leave, but in the end he had succumbed to his desire for her. His cruelty after their lovemaking that night was not only towards her but towards himself for still wanting her even thought he believed that she had used him. After speaking to Jarid he couldn't go to her. In truth, he feared that she would turn her back on him and he didn't know how he would accept her rejection. Deep down, he wanted her to lay his doubts and fears to rest. He wanted her to take one step towards him, to show him that her feelings were true and he would go the rest of the way to her and set things right between them. He had now idea how this would happen, but never had he imagined that she would do something like this, to flaunt custom and her father for his sake. He felt overwhelmed and humbled, but above all he felt like a fool for almost losing this remarkable woman whom he loved and who, he now knew without a shadow of a doubt, loved him as well.

"Tristan." Roland said softly interrupting his thoughts.

"Whatever happens, know that I am her ally and yours. If you ever need my help, I will be there as will Elissa." Roland finished extending his hand to Tristan.

Tristan looked into Roland's face and smiled, taking his h and nodding his thanks.

"One final word Tristan and I will leave." Roland said

"Guard yourself from Ivano. You have been gone from our village many years and do not know him as the rest of us do, and if you care for Roxana, protect her as best you can. I fear her father will not only make her pay dearly for what she has done, but make her bear the brunt of his anger for his failed plans here as well." Roland said, his eyes never wavering from Tristan's face.

"We shall see about that!" Tristan replied softly.

Nodding one last time, Roland rose and left. Tristan looked back into the fire for a few moments before he too rose and made his way to where the men had gathered. He needed to speak to Jarid and then discreetly seek out the elders when they could spare a few moments. If the Romans had finished their questioning of him and Jarid, he wanted to leave at first light to be back at the village. He needed to speak to Roxana before Ivano returned. He needed to make his plans carefully, he almost had lost Roxana once, he would not run such a risk again.

As he walked up to Jarid, there was a commotion in front of the building where the Romans were questioning the men and everyone turned to see what was happening. The elders had come out and the men quickly encircled them to get as close as possible to hear what they had to say.

"All the men who arrived today will leave in the morning. Those who had come a fortnight ago will remain two more days so as to sign a declaration of their loyalty to the Roman Empire. Those who do not sign will be put to trial on charges of treason. Those who sign will be free to return to the village. A small troop of Roman soldiers will be stationed at our village to keep the order." An Elder announced.

Protests were heard from the men in the crowd.

"For how long will the troops remain?" one man asked.

"Until Rome deems it unnecessary." The Elder replied.

"Who is responsible for this?" another voice was heard from the crowd.

"We shall discuss that when we return to the village. We will call a meeting and we, the elders, will punish those who have put our village to risk."

"Is it true what the men are saying? Did part of the plot for revolt also involve setting up the Roxolani as the ruling tribe?" A man closest to the elders asked.

There was a pause and a hushed silence fell. The elder simply nodded and raised his hand when some in the group broke out into angry shouts and jeers, while others raised their fists in the air.

"We as the elders will take care of this matter! No one tribe will be set above the others. As we have lived peacefully these past years, so we shall continue. Do not give the Romans any more cause to make further demands from us!" the elder finished on a warning note.

They turned and went back inside where the Romans were still questioning the men they had detained. After a few minutes the crowd began to disperse. Tristan met up with Jarid, who had a smile on his face.

"You seem pleased." Tristan murmured eyeing him closely.

"Aye! I am curious to see how Ivano gets out of this one. What happened with Roland?"

"Roxana and he spoke to the elders last night requesting that the negotiations for their binding be ended."

Jarid stopped dead in his tracks.

"And?"

"The elders accepted their request." Tristan said, a broad smile lighting up his face.

Jarid's mouth dropped.

"Ivano is going to have a fit!" he said gleefully

Tristan nodded

Within seconds Jarid's face sobered.

"It will not go well for her…" and he looked at Tristan

"We shall see." Tristan said quietly, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Then I suggest we make our plans most carefully. Ivano is a dangerous beast when his plans are thwarted. We must tread very carefully." Jarid said in a low voice.


	15. Chapter 15

The villagers had seen the dust that the riders kicked up as they rode towards the settlement. By the time the first rider had dismounted the square had become crowded by people who had dropped whatever they were doing to come and hear the latest news. Tristan and Jarid rode in and Tristan quickly scanned the faces in the crowd, but Roxana was not there. With a frown he dismounted and made his way to Marien.

"What news?" Marien asked anxiously.

"Those of us how rode to the village were allowed to return, the rest who have been there a fortnight will be asked to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Empire. Those who sign will be released in two days' time, those who refuse will be tried for treason.

"Ha, I'll bet good coin that they'll all be praising the Empire come morning!" Marien said disgustedly.

"I suppose Ivano is involved in this?" Marien asked irritably, turning to face Jarid.

Jarid simply nodded and Marien cursed, knowing that he no doubt had been the instigator of this whole business, he and his high nosed wife who thought everyone in the village was beneath her.

There were times like this that Marien wished Galiana had been related to anyone but her.

"Seems Ivano not only wanted to get rid of the Romans, but he was planning to set up the Roxolani as ruling tribe." Jarid said acidly.

"Gods! When word gets out…" Marien whispered.

"The whole village knows." Jarid said grinning widely.

"Something that pleases you to no end I see." Marien replied.

"What he'll tell the elders as an excuse to wheedle himself out of this one is what I'm most curious to hear." Jarid replied.

Ivano had on more than one occasion been brought before the elders as instigator of quarrels and other offences and had always come away blameless. Marien stepped closer to him.

"I have a feeling this time it won't hold water! The elders, I think are at this point ready to believe the worst I'll wager!"

"How's that?"

Marien pursed her lips not knowing whether to reveal what she knew or not.

"Marien, if you're referring to Roxana and Roland's visit to them, we already know." Jarid told her still grinning.

Marien looked at him sharply.

"…already know… How? Who told you?"

"Roland" Tristan replied.

"Why that…."

"Marien, he's a good man who in way wants to protect Roxana and tried to protect your daughter Elissa." Jarid cut her off.

"Where is Roxana, Marien?" Tristan asked.

Marien gave him her most intimidating glare but to no effect. Tristan simply looked at her steadily, cocking an eyebrow.

"She went home. She didn't want to come lest she saw you." She stated bluntly.

"Seems you've both made a fine bundle of things!" She added irritably.

"Peace, Marien peace! Tell her to meet me at the spring after sunset. I'll be waiting for her."

"I'll do no such thing!" Marien shot back outraged.

"Marien," Tristan said softly, "If you won't tell her, then you leave me no choice but to seek her out at her hut, and if anyone happens to see me then when news about Roland and her gets out the village won't need to wonder the reason why they went to the elders."

Marien's mouth dropped.

"By all the Gods!" she roared.

"Marien, I'll do it!"

She looked at him, her face bright red and her eyes flashing fire.

"Well, this is a fine kettle of fish…Jarid have you nothing to say?" she fixed her sharp eyes on him.

"No." Jarid replied, suppressing a smile.

"Humph!" and with that she turned and stalked off.

When Marien told Roxana to meet Tristan at the spring, Roxana shook her head and went into her hut, leaving a bewildered Marien gapping after her. She stormed in after the young woman a few moments later, but no amount of curses or threats could make Roxana change her mind. Elissa, hearing their voices, hurried in and after shutting the door yelled at them both.

"Are you both daft! Your voices can be heard clear across the fields!"

"Roxana refuses to meet Tristan after sunset and if she doesn't he will come here to seek her out, and he'll do it!" Marien cried frantically.

"The last thing we need is for him to be seen here!"

"Roxana," Elissa whispered going over to her friend. If he wants to see you I'm sure he has something important to say to you."

Roxana shook her head.

"Don't let your pride ruin your chance at happiness, unless you've had a change of heart towards Tristan." Elissa said looking at her.

Roxana bowed her head.

"It's…just… that I'm frightened. What if he scorns me again? I couldn't bear that Elissa!"

Marien's face softened and she took her in her arms.

"I told you those men don't finish with their women so easily, but neither do they gain satisfaction from being cruel. Go and see what he has to tell you…and then decide to walk away or stay."

Roxana looked at Marien for a few moments and nodded.

Roxana walked to the spring and stopped short when she reached the clearing. Tristan sat at the foot of a tree, patiently waiting for her. When he saw her stop, he stood up and walked over to where she was. Roxana took a step back nervously and wrapped her arms around her waist.

"You wanted to talk to me." She said looking down at her feet.

Tristan looked at her, his face softening and his brown eyes full of warmth. She was skittish and although he wanted to go to her and gather her into his arms, he was afraid she might bolt.

"Why did you and Roland stop the negotiations?"

Roxana's head shot up. She looked at him and couldn't believe her ears.

"I don't think it concerns you Tristan!"

"Oh but I think it does Roxana! It concerns me personally!" Tristan replied with a small smile playing on his lips.

"Your name will not be heard at all Tristan, so you need not worry that Eliana will ever find out about your indiscretion with me!"

Now Tristan's smile broadened and he remembered another jealous outburst she had had because she thought he had been too attentive to the baker's wife one morning. Roxana saw him smiling and her pride and her temper flared.

"If that is all, I would like to return to my hut." And turning she started to walk away.

"I have no intention of doing anything with Eliana!" Tristan said, taking a step towards her retreating figure.

Roxana hesitated for a fraction of a section before continuing.

"Roxana, I am preparing to leave for Britain again."

This time Roxana stopped dead in her tracks.

"I know I dealt with you badly the last time we met but when I found out about Roland and realised that you hadn't told me anything brought my worst fears and feelings to the fore. The thought that you had never felt anything for me and you had only used me nearly drove me mad. Please Roxana forgive me. If you won't have me back, then there is nothing left for me here. I can't stay and watch you from a distance waiting and dreading the day another might claim you as his.

Roxana's heart dropped. She had never thought that he would leave. His home was here, his father was here! Turning around slowly she looked at him.

"You lie."

He shook his head.

"No Roxana. Perhaps, if we are not meant to be, I may take a wife one day, but I could never stay here. I don't think I could do what Jarid did. I don't think I could forget the feelings I have for you…"

"…had for me." She whispered.

"Roxana you had asked me if my love was superficial. I had answered you then. I can never forget you Roxana, you have marked me too deeply.

Tristan's face softened and he covered the space between them, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly.

"Tell me I'm forgiven Roxana." He said softly.

She wound her arms around his neck and softly wept into the crook of his neck.

"I thought I had lost you…" she breathed.

"I will come to your father and ask for your bride price."

She drew back and smiling cupped his face with her hands pulling him close and kissing him deeply. Breaking the kiss she looked at him and shook her head.

"No, my heart. He … he will only turn you away."

"Because I am Iazyges dirt?" Tristan said smiling down at her and caressing her cheek.

Roxana closed her eyes in shame and nodded.

"Oh Tristan what are we to do?" she cried softly.

Tristan remained silent for a moment. If he could not seek her in binding what other options did they have? He had thought of taking her and leaving, but looking into her eyes, he wanted to push that option aside. Without realising how or when, in no time she had stolen his heart and his need to possess her was now coupled with his need to protect her. He would not allow anyone to speak or think badly of her. He wanted the whole village to witness their binding with honour, and not for one moment to let them think that she was anything to him but his wife. He had consulted the elders the night before and he had gained their permission for their binding, but they were cautious as to taking the matter into their hands and circumventing Ivano. The customs of their people had been bent enough already with this matter. He would have to speak to her about this later but for now he wanted this short blessed moment of peace with her. He held her closely and felt her shaking against him. Lifting her chin he looked into her eyes and whispered.

"We will find a way my love…"

She snuggled in his arms, feeling his warmth and breathing in his scent. The love she felt for him washed through her like a warm wave and touched her soul. She slowly sank onto the soft grass, pulling Tristan with her. Groaning, he pulled her under him and kissed her deeply, his hands travelling down her body. Taking his hand, she caressed the rough dry skin and turning it over kissed his palm lightly. Pushing him back onto the grass, she leant over, her hair falling like a curtain across his neck and kissed him hungrily, her fingers caressing his beard from his lower lip down to his chin. She trailed her tongue down his neck, pausing at the base to relish the feel of his quickening pulse. Running her fingers down the length of his chest, she grasped the hem of his tunic and starting pushing it upwards, her hands caressing his well toned chest, her warm lips following in their wake. Tristan sat up and pulled the tunic over his head. Tossing the garment aside, he turned to face her and once again their lips met hungrily. He pulled the leather laces and loosened her shirt, pulling it down, he kissed her shoulders as they were exposed. His lips trailed down her chest, his hands cupping her breasts. He bent his head and took a peak into his mouth teasing it with his tongue until it harden, his hands reaching down to caress the side of her waist. She arched into his touch, moaning softly and tangling her fingers through his hair. Tristan's hands trailed down her back and untied the cord of her skirt. Pulling her to her knees, he pushed the fabric over her hips, his fingers trailing lightly down the small of her back and buttocks before curving over and brushing the curls at the apex of her thighs.

She placed her hand over his to still them. Tristan, his eyes blazing with passion, looked into hers and leaning close to him she brushed her tongue over the tip of his ear, sending a shiver coursing through him. Closing his eyes, he couldn't stop the growl that escaped his lips. He sensed Roxana's smile.

"My heart," she breathed softly into his ear, "let me love you, let me caress and taste you until I loose myself in you…"

Placing her hands against his chest she gently pushed him back onto the grass. Bending her head low, she breathed in his scent nuzzling his neck, her lips following down the length of his chest. Both hands and lips continued to caress Tristan, rediscovering where he was most sensitive. She rained kissed down his stomach, her fingers gently brushing against his hard length which was straining beneath the fabric of his breeches. Tristan lay back and with glazed eyes looked on at her. He had never felt so lost in a woman's touch and his heart felt overwhelmed by his feelings for her. Feelings that seemed to have heightened in so short a time and which he could not begin to put in words. Her hair brushed against his stomach and he felt her lips press against his hardness. Through half closed eyes, he saw her pull the fastenings of his breeches and felt the coolness of the summer night as she pushed them over his hips, and then he felt the warmth of her lips. He let out a sharp gasp and closed his eyes as his head fell back. Roxana continued to caress him while she tasted him, revelling in the feel of his silky hardness.

"Roxana…" he rasped, feeling himself close to the edge. Unable to bear anymore, he sat up and pushed her back against the ground. Parting her legs he buried himself swiftly in her heat. Roxana wrapped her legs around him, holding him to her, arching up to meet his hard thrusts as he drove into her, both oblivious to everything but their need to be as close to each other as possible. He looked down into her flushed face, thinking he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his life. His need for her continued to build at a quick pace until he heard her cry out his name, gasping and arching her back as her muscles clenched around him, sending him too over the edge.

He fell against her as she lifted her arms and wrapped them tightly around him. A few moments passed before Tristan pushed himself up and softly kissed her. Rolling onto his back he took her with him in his arms and held her close to his still pounding heart, his breathing harsh. She nestled against him, trying to catch her own breath and smiling, placed a soft kiss on his neck.

Tristan pulled back so he could look into her eyes.

"I have never been a man of many words. I wish I could tell you how I feel. I love you is not enough to describe what is in my heart for you…" he whispered hoarsely.

She lifted her fingers to his lips and whispered.

"Then look into my eyes…"


	16. Chapter 16

Elissa ran as if the very devil were after her. She flew along the path that led to her hut, bursting through the door calling out to Marien. Her mother came running.

"Ivano has returned. " Elissa panted, "I've just come from Roland, I've sent him to fetch Tristan."

"Well, we were expecting him. I'm sure Tristan already knows and is on his way." She said calmly.

"Mother, Ivano already knows! I don't know who could have told him!"

Marien's face dropped.

"When Roxana and I returned to her hut, he and Galiana were waiting for her. He took me by the arm and threw me out before closing the door. He…he held a whip in his hand…" she whispered frightened.

Marien's face drained of all colour.

"Quick! He's capable of the worse. Run child and tell the elders to come to Ivano's hut! I'll meet you there."

As Elissa tore out of her hut, Marien hurriedly made her way to Ivano's, hoping that Roxana would have enough sense to humour him until Tristan got there. The night before everyone had agreed that Tristan and Jarid would be with Roxana when she told her father, and that Tristan would ask for her bride price. If Ivano refused then Tristan would take Roxana. In this case, the elders would have to step in and resolve the problem. If they rejected the young couple's suit, then Tristan and Roxana were prepared to leave the village, and although loosing Roxana tore at Marien's heart, she knew that at least she would be happy with the man she loved. They had all been most careful not to give away what had happened to the village before Roxana had a chance to tell Ivano herself. It had never crossed anyone's mind that Ivano might already be informed. What worried Marien was who had told him, but that could wait. As she cut across the small garden patch and neared the door of Ivano's hut she heard the lashing of a whip and she broke into a run.

Elissa and Roxana were completely caught off guard when they entered the hut. Within moments Elissa had been thrown out unceremoniously and Roxana stood alone in the central room facing her parents.

"Last night, I was informed of something that I would have had difficulty believing if the person who told me had not been of my utmost confidence." He said eyeing her coldly while his fingers played with the whip.

Roxana looked at her father. She would not give in to the fear she felt rising in the pit of her stomach.

"It is true father. Roland and I do not want to bind, and since we were in agreement we felt it best to put an end to it."

"I will seek out Roland later and tax him with this, but now I want to know why?"

"I told you father. Roland and I do not want this."

Ivano looked at her blankly.

"What you and Roland want or do not want is not important to me." He said softly.

"Father, the revolt has failed! The alliance between our family and Roland's no longer serves a purpose. You must know that now." Roxana said drawing herself up to her full height.

He father looked at her surprised.

"Whether it serves a purpose of not is for me to decide, not for you! What I want is for my daughter to explain to me why she had to make me lose face in the village. Why, after several weeks of my negotiations with Roland she decided to take matters into her hands and defy her father and her mother."

"I told you…" she whispered.

Ivano turned to Galiana who was looking at her daughter with narrowed eyes.

"Roxana, do you think your father and I fools?" she asked, her lips set in a tight frown.

"You have cost us our reputation in the village. Because of you I will be laughed at and mocked by the other women. Women who are not worthy to stand next to me let alone speak to me as if we were equals! I know that you would never have acted in this manner if something else was not going on. It's a man, isn't it?" she asked accusingly.

"Can I not decide for myself what I want or do not want? I am no longer a child, I am a grown woman and know what is right for me and what is not!" Roxana replied in a calm but determined tone.

"No! You may know what you want, but you suppress it and keep your place and tongue. While unmarried you will do what your father and I deem fit and when you pass into your husband's care you will be ruled by him! That is how a Sarmatian woman of good reputation conducts herself. That is your place!" her mother said coldly.

"It is a man, I can see it in your eyes. Since he is your choice, I dread to think what kind of family he comes from and what his alliances are. You never had any pride Roxana, even as a child. No matter how often your father and I scolded, reprimanded or punished you, you could never understand that very few people of this village are our equals." Galiana said arrogantly.

"I judge people by their characters and their actions, not by their families and alliances."

"Aye, no doubt that is Marien's influence at work! She too had disgraced herself but luckily our families stepped in and she fell back into line and her rightful place. It seems the same must be done for you." Her mother continued in the same tone of voice.

"Who is it Roxana?" her father asked.

Roxana remained silent.

"I will ask you only once more." He said taking a step towards her.

Roxana looked at her father.

"He will come and ask for my bride price." She said quietly

"I did not ask you about whether he will come or not. I asked you who it is. Roxana you are trying my patience!" her father said in a dangerous tone.

Roxana lifted her head high.

"It is Tristan, son of Jarid and Isilit." She said with a touch of pride in her voice.

Her parents exchanged startled looks. Her mother got up and came to stand in front of her. Suddenly she slapped Roxana sharply across the cheek.

"You have shamed us for the likes of him? A Roman slave?" her mother said disdainfully.

Roxana lifted her head, her cheek red and stinging.

"He is a Sarmatian Knight who has proven himself worthy and brought pride to our village. I feel honoured that such a man sought me out and wishes to make me his wife. He honours not only me but our family as well." She said firmly.

The fury on her mother's face was intense and her tone of voice held a tinge of disgust.

"For you to defend that Iazyges dog and with such fire is enough proof to me that he has mounted you and mounted you often!" She spat.

"While your father and I were away trying to secure a better future for you, you were rolling around with that animal! You are a disgrace to us Roxana."

Roxana's anger flared.

"How dare you try to reduce what Tristan and I have to your baseness. All my life, all I can remember from you were your scathing remarks about other people in this village, as if they could not possibly feel or do anything respectful or worthy. I love Tristan and he loves me, if you cannot accept that, then turn me out mother!"

"What a fool you are Roxana!" her mother sneered.

"And become the laughing stock of this village? I think not!" Galiana cried shrilly.

Roxana looked at her mother. All her life she had been distant and coldly formal with her as a child, but she was a woman nonetheless. Surely she could understand Roxana the woman as perhaps she couldn't the child.

"Mother! You're a woman, regardless of who Tristan is or is not in your eyes, you must understand how I feel!" she clutched at the older woman's hand, her eyes pleading.

"I was and am a Roxolani woman of the highest rank." Galiana replied withdrawing her hand from Roxana's tight grip.

"I never gave anyone the right to comment or criticise me, as it seems you have. I do not know what I did to deserve a daughter who is no better than a common whore." She said acidly.

"I am sorry for having borne you such a child Ivano. I trust that you will take this matter into hand."

She said to her husband, nodding her head. Turning she left the hut, shutting the door behind her.

"I will not forsake him father!" Roxana said quietly.

"I love him too much!"

Ivano looked at her for a few moments before he took a step towards her.

"Then you will be punished for this insolence Roxana! If I have to beat you senseless you will in the end forget about that dog. I will speak to Rexano who _will_ take Roland in hand and then girl you will bind with the man_ I_ have chosen and it will be the end of this matter."

"No!" Roxana said vehemently, "I will never do that!"

"Roxana, men of greater strength and power have come against me and have failed. My own daughter will not tell me how I will deal with and dispose of my property. Unfortunately you are my daughter, but be that as it may you will do as I say." He said quietly

"I pride myself on being a fair man daughter and therefore I will ask you for the last time to come with me to the elders. Rectify this situation or you leave me no choice." Her father said coldly.

Roxana shook her head. Her father sighed and before she could utter a single word, he cracked the whip down on her back. It tore the linen of her dress along with Roxana's soft skin. She gasped, and when the sharpness of the sting dulled, she stood up and looked at her father.

"You can whip me like a dog, but I will not give Tristan up."

Ivano lifted the whip and struck her again. Roxana screamed and huddled against the floor, covering her head with her arms. She felt as if her back and arms were on fire and suddenly she heard a woman's scream. Marien had burst into the hut and had hurled herself onto Ivano, knocking him back.

"No Ivano! You will not do to Roxana what was done to me!"

"Marien this is not your affair! How I chose to discipline my daughter is my business and no one else's! " Ivano said scornfully.

Roxana had crawled into a corner, her tear streaked face flushed and her dress torn. Shouts and running feet were heard in the distance.

"I will not let you do this! Is she to blame because she fell in love with a man more than worthy of her?"

"Aye! You would defend him since he is Jarid's bastard! I am not surprised at all! One whore can recognise and help another!" he spat.

Marien's outraged gasp was drowned by Jarid's angry shout behind her.

"You will pay dearly for that remark Ivano! I swear it!"

Tristan had gone over to Roxana and lifting her to her feet took her into his embrace. Roxana clung to him, her eyes fearful.

"Tristan, be careful! My father, I think, is capable of anything!"

"Hush Roxana! He will never lay a finger on you again."

"Jarid! Hold you temper!" Tristan warned his father.

Ivano turned and faced Tristan.

"Get out of my hut! You have no place here dog!"

Tristan bristled at the insult, but kept his temper in check.

"Thank the gods that you are Roxana's father, otherwise I would have cut you down where you stand! I have come for Roxana. Name the bride price as you must according to our customs!"

"Ivano!" a loud voice boomed from the doorway.

An elder had just arrived, his face set in an angry glare.

"Have you not stirred enough trouble for us that you seek more?"

Tristan had passed Roxana into Marien's arms and took a step towards Ivano.

"Ivano, Roxana and I love each other. I have asked her to be my wife and she has accepted. Tell me her bride price and give us your permission, otherwise I will seek the elders' help in this matter."

Roxana looked at her father. She could see the fury contorting his features.

"You put her up to this! You told her what to say!" Ivano accused.

" No! Roxana is more than capable of speaking and deciding for herself. It is her choice. It is her decision and no one else's!"

Ivano looked at his and scoffed before his tone turned accusing again.

"You come into my hut. Lay your filthy hands on what does not belong to you and you have the gull to want me to give you my permission?"

Tristan looked at his through narrowed eyes.

"Roxana is mine by her own choice! She will become my wife Ivano, whether you want it or not!"

"I think not!" her father shouted angrily.

No one saw Ivano reach for the small dagger at his waist, no one but Roxana. With a soft cry she ran forward and threw herself in front of Tristan just as Ivano raised the blade to plunge it into Tristan's chest. Gasping lightly, she felt a burning sensation begin in her back and quickly run through her body. She heard the elder's shouts together with Jarid's angry bellow mingled with Marien's scream of horror before her knees buckled. She felt Tristan's arms catch her as she fell.

Looking up into his shocked eyes, she tried to raise her hand and brush the hair away but she couldn't. She heard his frantic cry to her and she tried to smile at him, to reassure him that all would be well. Her vision grew dim and she felt her eyelids heavy. She couldn't keep her eyes open and she slowly closed them. As if from a distance she heard Tristan's pleas for her not to leave him and then the pain she felt ebbed before darkness quickly engulfed her.


	17. Chapter 17

Tristan cradled Roxana in his arms, holding her close to him. He could feel her warm blood flowing over his fingers as he pressed his hand against the wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. He looked into her face, it was so pale. Jarid had lunged forward and had taken hold of Ivano who was struggling to shake him off. Roland had arrived with his father, both men looking on in horror at the scene before them. The elders had been outraged by this turn of events and had ordered Jarid and Roland to take Ivano to the square and keep him under guard until they arrived and discussed what would be done with him.

"He's caused too much trouble for everyone!" Jarid cried out.

"This time he must be punished. To let him go now would only increase his daring!"

Ivano was struggling in his grip.

"Jarid I swear by all the Gods you will pay for this!" Ivano screamed.

"Enough! Take him away and bind him if you must!" one of the elders said angrily

The elders nodded and motioned for Jarid and Roland to leave before turning their attention to Roxana.

"Does she live?" Marien asked fearfully.

"Aye, Marien but we need a healer!" Tristan said clutching Roxana close to his chest.

"Take her to my hut Tristan, don't leave her here! Where is Galiana?" Marien asked looking around.

"She followed Ivano mother, don't look to her for any help!"

"That black hearted bitch!" Marien spat.

"Go Tristan! I'll fetch the healer." And with that she left.

Within minutes Tristan had arrived. Ripping a strip of cloth from her dress, he pressed it to the wound. He looked into her ashen face and for the first time in years he felt fear and helplessness.

Roxana moaned and opening her eyes looked into Tristan's.

"Tristan, what happened? Where are we?" she asked weakly.

"You're safe my love, We're at Mariens, she's gone to bring the healer."

"My whole back hurts, it burns and smarts…" she whispered, a tear falling down her cheek.

Tristan kissed it away before holding her close, a sob escaped his lips and his body shook.

"Tristan, I am fine, in pain but I am fine."

"Roxana, you shouldn't have come between me and your father…" he said hoarsely.

Roxana looked up into his eyes and smiled.

"I love you…" she mouthed silently and closed her eyes again.

The door burst open and the healer came running in, Marien close behind.

He took one look at Roxana and quickly set to work. Marien had stolked the fire and placed a pot full of water to boil.

"Tristan, best step out and …." Marien trailed off when she saw the expression of his face.

"Well then help me get her dress off and her wounds cleaned!" she said in exasperation.

"Was she whipped?" the healer asked in shock.

Marien nodded curtly.

Tristan had gone over to Roxana and taking his dagger out cut the laces of her dress. Together with Marien, they undressed her. Marien bathed her wounds turning her on her stomach and throwing a light sheet over her while the healer started to anoint and bind her wounds. Roxana was semi conscious and every now and then gasped when the healer smeared the mixture on.

Tristan knelt down next to her and smiling at her encouragingly whipped her forehead, pushing her hair back. The dagger wound still bled but not as profusely and the healer added a sulphur based ointment to fight off any possible festering and bound it up winding the linen strips tightly around her chest. He told Marien that Roxana should remain as still as possible and also asked her to boil an infusion of poppy seed which he gave her to ease Roxana's pain and help her to sleep.

"She was lucky Ivano's dagger was so small…" The healer murmured.

Tristan nodded tight lipped.

A soft knock was heard on the door, interrupting the healer. Roland came in and after asking how Roxana was, told Tristan that the elders wanted to see him. Tristan shook his head.

"Tell them I won't leave her yet…"

"Tristan," Roxana said softly "Go and see what is happening. After today I…I do not trust my father and he might find a way to persuade the elders to change their minds." She said weakly.

"Not likely!" Roland said

"He's bound up with Jarid guarding him. He's fuming like a wild animal, threatening the elders that they will pay for their insolence.!"

Roxana sighed and closed her eyes, shame filling her. Tristan knelt down and caressed her cheek.

"Nothing he does will change what happened Roxana. I will go and come back as soon as the elders finish with me!"

He bent down and kissed her before turning and following Roland out. The news had spread through the village like wildfire and everyone had gathered in the square. The Roman garrison who had arrived with the men had been posted around the square, ready for any trouble that might arise. Their commander was in with the elders. Tristan and Roland made their way through the crowd and entered the hut.

The elders were trying to persuade the Roman officer that Ivano would be judged by the elders of the village and that since the problem was an internal one, the Romans had no say in it. Despite Ivano's irreprehensible behaviour, he was still Sarmatian. The commander reluctantly agreed but warned that if whatever judgement the elders gave Ivano was not enforced, they would see that it was, and he departed.

"Ivano!" one of the elders began without any ceremony.

"You stand before us for two reasons. The first being your involvement in the revolt that has caused so much trouble in the village and which was resolved in part last night. I will ask you to what degree your involvement was." The elder looked at him.

"I do not know what revolt you are talking about!" Ivano said to everyone's outrage.

"Rexano approached me about a possible revolt, which is why he also was pressing me to give Roxana to his son in binding…"

The shouts from the men drowned his voice.

"Ivano! How dare you! Rexano cried pushing his way to the front.

"You came to me but that is beside the point! I will shoulder the consequences of my actions!

Ivano came to me and told me that a large number of men from the next village and men from ours had combined forces and had amassed a number of weapons as well as fighters. The binding between our children was suggested by Ivano, and accepted by me, since neither one trusted the other enough without some assurances."

"That binding is no longer valid Rexano! We have accepted Roland and Roxana's claim that it be pushed aside."

Rexano nodded.

"Roxana is a fine woman, but I understand that our actions as parents were wrong. I believe my son will seek Elissa, daughter of Marien and Triano as wife."

The elders nodded approvingly.

"You coward!" Ivano spat to Rexano.

"When I first heard what you had done Ivano, I thought you were mad, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. I now realise that you are simply a power hungry evil man who can feel nothing for his own flesh and blood let alone others. I'm sorry I ever wasted my time with you!"

The elder motioned for Rexano to step back.

"The second reason you are here is your daughter." The elder continued.

"My daughter is my affair and no one else's!" Ivano replied arrogantly.

"As head of my family I can do with her as I deem fit!"

The elder stood up and took a step closer.

"That would have been the case if you had not used her as a pawn for your thirst for power and by your attack on her tonight. We as elders have the power and the obligation to protect every member of this village. You have forfeited your rights to Roxana Ivano!"

The group of men in the room agreed with the elders pronouncement.

"Tristan seeks Roxana for his wife…"

"Never!" Galiana interrupted him.

"Galiana, we have deemed the match a good one and give our permission. Either you name a bride price for Tristan and the binding in concluded according to our customs or you forfeit the right to a bride price."

Galiana and Ivano exchanged looks. A crafty smile appeared on Ivano's face.

"Then I ask for the same bride price Marien's father asked from Jarid. A thousand gold pieces!"

Tristan looked at Jarid. The older man's face was expressionless, only his eyes betrayed the fury within.

"Enough!" The elder cried in exasperation. The others glared at Ivano.

"You leave us little choice. The bride price is set at fifty gold pieces. The same price you asked from Roland. Tristan do you accept the price?"

"I do!" Tristan said without hesitation.

"I do not!" Ivano shouted.

"Ivano, I suggest you take it for you will have need of it!" An elder spoke up.

"As we said earlier, you leave us no choice. You are hereby exiled from this village for a period of five years. At the end of that time we will once again convene to determine if your exile will continue or if we will allow you to return. You have five days to prepare."

Ivano and Galiana were stunned. During all their plots and planning, neither had anticipated such an outcome.

"What of Roxana?" Galiana asked haughtily.

"Roxana will pass into the care of Marien until she and Tristan bind. I trust that a solicitous mother as yourself has prepared her dowry. It will be entrusted to Marien and delivered to the bride on the eve of her wedding."

"I protest to this!" Ivano shouted angrily.

"Would you rather the Romans deal with you Ivano?" The elder asked in a quiet voice.

Ivano looked at Galiana and without acknowledging anyone present made for the door.

"Do you not want to know how your daughter is?" Tristan asked.

Galiana stopped and turned to face him.

"Your future wife is no longer our concern. She is yours!" She said coldly.

Tristan looked at her disdainfully, thankful that Roxana was not there. He went up to the elders and after arranging to send the bride price to them with Jarid thanked them and left with Roland following behind.

"Tristan, I want to congratulate you and Roxana. I will be along tomorrow to see her."

Rexano had come up to them.

"I too would like to offer my best wishes Tristan. If there is anything me or my family can do, simply ask." He said gruffly.

Tristan looked at him.

"Aye, there is something. I would like to buy your plot of land next to Jarid's hut."

Rexano looked at Roland who smiled and nodded.

"Consider it yours. It will be my family's binding gift to you both."

"Rexano, I do not know what to say…" Tristan said at a loss for words.

"It is the least I can do for her. I was influenced by Ivano and did not ask her or Roland their opinion, as I should have done."

The villagers had gathered around and were listening.

"So Tristan, you've decided to put your neck in the yoke have you?" someone shouted.

Tristan smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"Well, it seems you need to build a hut man!"

"Aye! I do!" Tristan laughed.

"What say you men? The wheat harvest is more than a fortnight away. If we all pitch in Tristan's hut will be ready by then."

"Aye!" several shouted.

The men agreed to meet the next morning and start clearing the plot, and turning made their way to their own huts.

Tristan looked on after them with a grateful smile, surprised and warmed by their gesture of acceptance and support. Jarid was pleased with this turn of events and after agreeing to come by Marien's hut left to deliver the money to the elders. Tristan turned and quickly set off, anxious to be with Roxana. He wanted to be by her side when she woke up.

Roxana leaned her back against her lover's chest, his arms encircled her waist. They stood in front of the hut that would become their home on the morrow. Roxana's recovery was rapid and within a week she was helping Marien and Elissa plan their double bindings. Ivano and Galiana had left on the day decreed by the elders but not before an all out clash with Marien, who had gone to collect Roxana's dowry and was given rags. Marien's temper flared and only after a good tongue lashing to Galiana and a threat to visit the elders to Ivano was she given Roxana's dowry.

It seemed that the whole village had gotten involved in the wedding preparations and now everything was ready for the next day. Tristan and Jarid had come by Marien's hut that night and shared a simple meal with her and the girls. After dinner Elissa slipped off to see Roland while Tristan and Roxana walked over to their new home.

"It seems Jarid and Marien are spending a lot of time together these days." Roxana said mischievously.

"Aye! Only this morning I told him I would be most happy to see him with her if his mind was in that direction." Tristan smiled.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing!" Tristan laughed, "He just turned a deep crimson and then he started stuttering!"

"You know Elissa and I told Marien much the same this morning!"

Tristan's eyebrows shot up.

"We both got a sound cuff for our efforts, but she did walk around with an exceptionally broad smile the rest of the morning." Roxana laughed.

She turned in her lover's arms and wound her arms around his neck.

"Would it truly make you happy to see Jarid and Marien finally together?"

Tristan looked over the top of her head into the distance for several moments.

"I wish Isilt had tasted the happiness that I have with you. To love and be loved is a blessing given by the gods. If others had not meddled, then perhaps she would have met someone who would have truly loved her as Jarid could not. It is not his fault, he did what he thought best and I would like to see him finally happy." Tristan looked down into her face and smiled.

"I think the same is true for Marien. After all that they have been through, I think they have earned it." He finished quietly.

Tightening his arms around her he bent his head and kissed her deeply…

That night by the cherry tree, two figures were seen there. A man and a woman, and although the years had passed, in their hearts they still carried the tender feelings of their youth which had been laid aside, but had never been forgotten.

I hope you enjoyed this, I know I did writing it.

Thank you!


End file.
